Congressmen learn of research to save the nation’s citrus industry
WESLACO – Two U.S. Congressmen learned firsthand recently the efforts Texas A&M AgriLife scientists are making in South Texas to keep invasive pests and diseases from threatening the country’s food supply, including one pair that threatens the future of the citrus industry.
U.S. Congressmen (from left) Rep. Filemon Vela, Jr, D-Texas, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, examine branches from a tree infected with citrus greening. Looking on are Humberto Garza, district director for Vela’s office (center) and Dr. Erik Mirkov (right), virologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco. At rear is Manny Gautreaux, operations manager at the Center. (AgriLife Communications photo by Rod Santa Ana)
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., D-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, toured facilities and met with scientists Friday at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco. Both are members of the House Agriculture Committee; Peterson is the ranking member.
Dr. Bill McCutchen, executive director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, told the congressmen that South Texas is an entry point for many invasive pests and diseases that do not recognize international or state boundaries.
“The impact that insect-vectored diseases are having on agriculture, crops and livestock, as well as human health, is immense,” he said. “The Lower Rio Grande Valley is a portal for these insects and diseases and is not only having an impact on Texas, but the major parts of North America.”
Dr. Erik Mirkov, a virologist and molecular biologist at the center, told Vela and Peterson that citrus production in the U.S. is threatened to the point of possibly not having orange juice in the future.
“A scientific journal, the Scientific American, asked on the front cover of a recent issue if we were seeing the end of orange juice in this country,” he said. “It’s a real possibility. In 2005, Florida confirmed their first case of citrus greening disease. By 2008, the disease had soared throughout the state to every single commercial citrus orchard.”
Citrus greening is a bacterial disease, carried from tree to tree by the Asian citrus psyllid, Mirkov said. The disease clogs the trees’ arteries, resulting in small, misshapen fruit that tastes bitter, eventually killing the tree. There is currently no cure.
“In fact, one more orange juice plant in Florida will close this year because there’s just not enough fruit. And while it’s not harmful to humans, the taste of the juice is being affected,” he said.
Of 19 juice plants in the state, only 13 will remain after this year, Mirkov said. Those that close will never reopen because of costly new federal codes and regulations they would need to meet.
“The South Texas citrus industry is now where Florida was in 2005 when they got hit by citrus greening,” he said. “At first, the disease here was limited to two small areas south of San Juan. Now there are 1,000 trees or more that are positive for greening throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley. And because of a latency period of two years before a tree shows symptoms, there may be many more infected trees out there.”
Mirkov has developed transgenic citrus trees, now being tested in Florida, that show resistance to the citrus greening bacteria, he said. But clearing federal regulatory mandates have been the biggest hurdle, severely slowing the movement of transgenic trees into commercial production.
“Because they now contain two genes from spinach that provide the resistance, these are GMO trees,” he said. “They are genetically modified organism trees. But so far, it’s the only long-term solution for saving the country’s $13 billion citrus industry. And the current crop can’t be saved; they need to replant and start over again.”
From seedlings, citrus takes seven to nine years to mature and produce fruit, he said.
McCutchen said limes are also being severely impacted due to citrus greening, reflected by an increase in the wholesale price of limes from $10 per carton 10 years ago to $100 per carton today.
“It’s not too late; we still have time to slow down the disease in Texas, Arizona and California,” he said, “But it’s going to take a comprehensive approach of integrated pest management, outreach, research and deploying new technologies that appear to have great promise for combating this devastating disease.”
After introductions by center director Dr. Juan Landivar, other AgriLife Research scientists discussed their research of a host of other invasive pests and diseases affecting local crops, including citrus, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cantaloupes and onions.
“Several species of psyllids affecting all these crops are already here,” Landivar said. “And some continue their northward trek through Texas and beyond. South Texas serves as the entry point for the rest of the country.”
Dr. Olufemi “Femi” Alabi, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist at Weslaco, described, among others, the path of Zebra Chip disease, also vectored by a psyllid.
The disease spread from Mexico in the 1990’s to South Texas in 2000 and is now found in the Pacific Northwest, posing a threat to the country’s $4 billion potato industry, he said.
“There is a lot we don’t know about the pathogen,” he said. “How does it interact with the vector that carries it? How does the vector interact with the pathogen and how do they interact with each other? We simply don’t have the facilities to handle that type of research.”
One solution to the lack of a facility where new pathogens and vectors could be studied without threat of escape would be to update a nearby facility vacated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture several years ago and gifted to the Texas A&M University System, Mirkov said.
After Landivar led a tour of the vacant laboratories, Mirkov said the entire facility needed remodeling and upgrades to meet code.
“We’d really like to be able to work with the invasive insects and pathogens together,” he said. “But we really don’t have a high enough biosecurity level facility to do the work. If we could get the funding, we could open that facility back up.”
Mirkov said it would take $4 million-$5 million to meet new codes.
Landivar thanked the congressmen for touring the AgriLife center and meeting with local agricultural stakeholders, including Dale Murden, director of Rio Farms, a private agricultural research farm in Monte Alto, and Dr. Allen Rasmussen, dean of the Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
The congressmen both said the tour taught them a lot about agricultural research.
“It’s been very productive to bring the ranking member of the agricultural committee here today,” Vela said. “I think the public needs to understand how important it is to continue funding research, and that almost the entire citrus industry of Florida got hurt so badly. We need to make sure that we continue to fund that research so that the same thing doesn’t happen to Texas.”
Peterson said he was impressed with the research facilities.
“There’s some disturbing things I learned today, but also some positive things in the work Texas A&M AgriLife is doing to get ahead of it,” he said. “So, it’s been a very educational day and I’m glad Congressman Vela invited me here.
“Sometimes you don’t learn anything,” he joked, “but today I learned a lot.”
