Cancer-like disease killing off citrus, hurting industry

[DoYouEverWonder]

November 21, 2006

Slammed by canker and hurricanes, Florida’s citrus growers are preparing for their worst harvest in 17 years.

But that’s not the worst of it. The billion-dollar industry’s future is looking even bleaker due to a fast-spreading, highly lethal disease that turns a tree’s leaves yellow and its juice rancid, then kills the tree in as few as five years.

Citrus greening, carried by the Asian citrus psyllid, a flying insect slightly bigger than a gnat, was first found in South Florida in August 2005. Today infected trees have been found in 12 counties, including all of South Florida and as far as Sarasota County.

The speed with which greening has swept the state has caught small to mid-sized growers off-guard. But the biggest players say greening is now their top concern.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/21/Business/Cancer_like_disease_k.shtml

[Kagemusha]

1. Well that's why they fight contamination so hard...

So something like this doesn't happen. But it did anyway.