U.S. authorities have pledged US$22 million in grants for research to fight citrus greening disease, which has wrought havoc on Florida's agricultural industry while posing a threat to other key citrus-growing states like Texas and California.

In a release yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the funding to help citrus producers fight the disease would be made available through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative's (SCRI) Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program (CDRE).

Growers have been scrambling to find an effective solution for the disease, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB), which can lie dormant in a tree for a long period before symptoms occur in the fruit, generally in the form of a lack of ripening and discoloration.

As a prevention measure, citrus areas at risk tend to have their fair share of traps to monitor detections of the vector that spreads the disease, the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP).

Since 2009, USDA has committed significant resources to manage, research and eradicate the citrus greening disease that threatens citrus production in the United States and other nations," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

"Thanks to the continued, coordinated efforts between growers, researchers, and state and federal government, we are getting closer every day to ending this threat.

"The funding announced today will help us continue to preserve thousands of jobs for citrus producers and workers, along with significant revenue from citrus sales."

The USDA has invested more than US$380 million to address citrus greening between fiscal years 2009 and 2015, including US$43.6 million through the SCRI CDRE program since 2015.

HLB's first incursion in the U.S. was in Florida in 2005, and has since affected all of the state's producing areas.

A total of 15 U.S. states or territories are under full or partial quarantine due to the detected presence of the ACP, including Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

USDA has employed both short-term and longer-term strategies to combat citrus greening. Secretary Vilsack announced a Multi-Agency Coordination framework in December 2013 to foster cooperation and coordination across federal and state agencies and industry to deliver near-term tools to citrus growers to combat Huanglongbing.

The Huanglongbing MAC Group includes representatives from the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA NIFA, USDA's Agricultural Research Service, Environmental Protection Agency, State Departments of Agriculture from California, Florida, Texas and Arizona, and the citrus industry.

The HLB MAC group is charged with quickly putting practical tools and solutions into the hands of producers, allowing them to remain economically productive while longer term solutions continue to be developed.

The Group invested US$20 million into more than 30 projects over the past two years.

Today, growers are benefiting from the use of thermotherapy, soil acidification, biocontrol and other tools funded through the first round of HLB MAC investment.

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