An eradication effort to save Florida's $8.5billion citrus industry from the spread of the devastating citrus canker disease is costing authorities $250million as they employ thousands of workers to try and contain its spread. More than 4,000 workers have been taken on by the Florida and federal departments of agriculture to inspect groves and eradicate any trees that are either affected by the canker or within a set radius of the infected material. So far, some 1,200 acres have been eradicated and the disease is estimated to have cost the Florida citrus industry more than $50million. The lime sector has suffered most as the canker spreads northwards, where it may threaten grapefruit production, from southern, predominantly lime-growing areas in Miami-Dade county. About a third of the state's lime trees have been wiped out so far according to industry estimates.

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