“Citrus trees are a critical piece of the state’s agricultural landscape from backyard trees beloved by homeowners to the rolling acres of beautiful and fragrant commercial citrus trees,” so states the 2017/18 annual report just released by the California Department of Agriculture. The report will be distributed to targeted audiences throughout the state.
Highlights of the report include that the total budget for the fiscal year was $39,440,000 with $15 million coming from industry assessments, $14.44 million originating from the federal CHRP program and $10 million from the state’s general fund. This is being done to protect $3.3 billion in production, 21,600 jobs, 268,500 producing acres, and a $7.1 billion economic impact throughout the state. The annual report cites a number of statistics ranging from properties surveyed to the number of samples analyzed for HLB. It talks about ground personnel, outreach and collaboration and administrative overhead. It talks about the effort to suppress and where possible eradicate the Asian Citrus Psyllid.
You can review the full report here: https://citrusinsider.org/annual-report-2018/
