Modesto hearing will zero in on citrus pest

Leaders in the state’s citrus industry will gather Friday in Modesto to discuss a major pest.

The state Senate Committee on Agriculture will hold a hearing on the Asian citrus pysllid, which threatens oranges, lemons, grapefruit and other citrus. Most of the state’s production is in the Southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, but the north Valley has nurseries and backyard trees that could harbor the pest.

The speakers will include Michael Frantz, co-owner of Frantz Wholesale Nursery in Hickman and board member for the Turlock Irrigation District.

“The Asian citrus psyllid is a significant threat to the California citrus industry, and the nursery industry is committed to doing its part to eradicate this pest,” he said Thursday. Frantz added that his company, which produces trees and other plants for landscaping, has installed a structure that keeps the psyllid from citrus stock.

The committee is led by Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, and includes Sens. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, and Tom Berryhill, R-Twain Harte. All of them represent parts of Stanislaus County.

Psyllids can carry an incurable disease called huanglongbing, also known as citrus greening. Infected trees produce bitter, misshapen fruit and eventually die. The pest has done about $1.3 billion in damage in Florida in recent years.

Last month, one psyllid was trapped in Manteca and another in Lodi, both in residential areas. Quarantines totaling 200 square miles were placed around the cities, barring the movement outside the boundaries of citrus nursery plants or of fruit that still has stems and leaves attached. The Manteca zone reaches into the north end of Ripon.

The state has placed quarantines throughout Southern California, in all of Tulare County and in parts of Kern, Fresno, San Luis Obispo and Santa Clara counties.

Stanislaus County had 580 acres of commercial citrus last year, according to its annual crop report. San Joaquin included citrus in its 800 acres of miscellaneous fruit. Merced also is a small producer.

Along with Frantz, the committee will hear from:

▪ Bob Wynn, senior advisor to state Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross

▪ Helene Wright, plant health director for California at the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

▪ Ruben Arroyo, agricultural commissioner for Kern County

▪ MaryLou Polek, vice president of science and technology at the Citrus Research Board in Visalia

▪ Mark Hoddle, director of the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside

▪ Georgios Vidalakis, director of the Citrus Clonal Protection Program at Riverside

▪ Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, Tulare County

▪ Nick Hill, vice president of Green Leaf Farms in Dinuba, Tulare County, and chairman of the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee

This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Modesto hearing will zero in on citrus pest."