USDA announces leader of citrus greening initiative

Mary Palm, PhD, will lead the USDA's multiagency response to combat Huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening disease). 

Palm wrote a blog on the USDA site addressing her appointment as leader of the initiative. "I relish the opportunity as a scientist to partner with other federal agencies, states, and industry to combat a disease—huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening)—that has devastated so many citrus groves in Florida and threatens other citrus-producing states," she writes.

The new Farm Bill, passed and signed into law earlier this month, provided $125 million specifically earmarked for combating HLB. Studies have also recently shown that the Asian Citrus Psyllid is largely responsible for the transfer of the disease. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside found that wasps help deter ACP. More recently the Hanford Sentinel is reporting that the cure for citrus greening may be found within the fruit itself.

Palm noted that the finding a cure for the disease is of paramount importance.

"The stakes are high with this disease, which causes green, misshapen, and bitter-tasting citrus fruit and eventually kills the tree.  In Florida, HLB has caused billions of dollars in lost production and resulted in thousands of lost jobs. The disease has spread to the vast majority of Florida’s citrus-producing areas since its detection in 2005.  Due to the clear threat it poses to citrus in Florida and beyond, addressing this disease is a top priority for us at APHIS," she writes.