A disease called citrus greening is poisoning the citrus groves of Florida. It was first discovered in 2005 and to date there’s no cure. But finding a cure prompted an international citrus research conference in Orlando.
There’s short term and long term fixes. The more permanent answers like growing citrus trees resistant to the disease are a few years out. But Chief Operations Officer for the Citrus Research and Development Foundation Dr. Harold Browning says there are some promising short term bandages.
“There already are some tools that are available that weren’t available back in 2005 or 2006 when the disease was first found. And so incrementally we’re making progress in that and we’re trying to fine tune those but we still don’t have a complete management system that we can deliver.” Dr. Browning says.
He says he’s also hopeful for a long term cure. But for now the state is just looking for stop any further damage. At the Capitol, Florida Governor Rick Scott is asking for half a million dollars for citrus greening research in his proposed 2013 budget.