President Obama is expected to sign a five-year one trillion dollar farm bill soon that includes millions of dollars to fight citrus greening.
Florida citrus growers have spent almost a billion dollars fighting a harmful bacteria called “citrus greening” since it was first spotted in groves in 2006.
But, growers are about to get some help.
Congress set aside $125 million over five years to help the industry effectively fight the disease, which has been steadily decimating orange crops.
Ron Hamel, the executive director of the Gulf Citrus Growers Association, said the funding was hard fought.
“Our Florida congressional delegation—our senators and our representatives—really, really went to bat for our industry and we are very grateful for that,” he said.
Hamel said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, and U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Florida, advocated for funding that would pay for short and long term solutions.
“We are cautiously optimistic that all this funding and coming up with the best research and programs are going to be good investments for the tax payers and for the growers,” Hamel said.
The state’s $9 billion citrus industry has taken quite beating as greening continues to kill citrus trees all over Florida and parts of California.
About 95 percent of Florida’s oranges eventually become orange juice, which is sold all over the world.
