Brazil citrus industry threatened by disease

[Adsos Letter]

Source: LA Times

Orange growers have been devastated by the effects of 'greening,' which is destructive and incurable. Officials say it's only a matter of time before it takes a toll on California's industry.

Reporting from Bebedouro, Brazil -- By the time orange grower Gabriel Simoes noticed symptoms of the incurable "greening" disease last year, it was too late to do anything about it. Now four of every five trees in his 1,000-acre orchard are dead or dying.

Industry officials say it's only a matter of time before California's $1.2-billion citrus industry is threatened by the "mother of all citrus diseases," which has invaded thousands of acres here in Brazil's citrus belt with sickening speed.

Coming on top of climate change and a depressed commodities market, greening has become a nightmare for the world's largest citrus industry in the four years since it was first detected here in Sao Paulo state.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-brazil-pests22-2008dec22,0,7774798.story

[opihimoimoi]

1. This is very important,,,its been judged to be the worst of all citrus diseases

Ya would think them Pubs woulda jumped on this....

instead they went for Shock and Awe, Country First, and "GET OVER IT....the Adults are in Charge now..."

[rucognizant]

3. AS I thought!

This article works like greased clockwork!
????????????????????

[rucognizant]

2. I am having difficulty...........

with the connell story. Twice I've had to close the page & try again. Once it wouldn't scroll AT ALL, second time I got a split screen that only scrolled the right side of the page rendering it illegible?????????????
I haven't hada problem with ANY other site or ARTICLE!
Lets see if it happens on this article.

[opihimoimoi]

4. google it....citrus green

[Grinchie]

5. Not one mention of Unsustainable Monocropping techniques

Or of Soil depletion due to the use of Herbicides and the removal of cover crops which would give the Psyllids something better to eat than to hop from one tree to another for a 1000 acres.

We know that Citrus have diseases, such as the Lime Canker in Florida where the whole orchard is cleared in a 300 yard radius from any infected tree.

Oranges are very long lived tree's, and just linke most other species, suffer from overcrowding by exhibiting diseases due to pathogens spread from neighboring trees and malnutrition.

Instead of shining a spotlight of the unsustainability of row cropping, or it's ultimate cost when disease wipes it out, they suggest a solution to a man made problem by manipulating the gene's of the Orange tree.

I have a better idea, plant and orange tree in everyones back yard where they can grow, and revert back to diverse agroforestry and actually harvets to overproduction like they used to in the old days --20 years ago.

Cantralized, distribution and mechanized food production are a sham, and the plants don't like it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. GMOs to the rescue.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/dec/04/first-us-planting-super-citrus-tree-will-be-southw/?partner=RSS