This week, the House Appropriations Committee favorable reported by voice vote its markup of the “FY2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills” to the House.
The bill provides $70,368,000 for citrus health programs including the Citrus Health Response Program (CHRP), HLB Multi-Agency Coordination group (HLB-MAC), and the Citrus Disease Research Program. These programs directly support on-the-ground efforts to prevent the spread of HLB in California and vital research projects.
CCM worked closely with our partners in Texas and Florida to ensure this critical funding was included in the bill and will be sustained in the final 2022 Appropriations Act.
Citrus Health Response Program – Approximately $14 million from this federally funded program goes directly to California’s Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Division to fund ACP trapping and sampling, HLB delimitation actions, quarantine enforcement and public outreach. Combined with funding from the State, the Division received nearly $20 million annually in public funds which is nearly half of the Division’s total annual budget. Without the federal funding provided in the Appropriations bill, the cost to protect the industry from HLB would be born solely by growers.
HLB-MAC Group ($11.5 million total) — The HLB-MAC group helps to fund research projects that can quickly deliver short-term solutions for the citrus industry against HLB. Funded projects complement other research initiatives by quickly providing practical tools for citrus growers to use while long-term research continues to seek a permanent cure for HLB.
Citrus Disease Research Program – The Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program is intended to discover and develop tools for early detection, control, and eradication of diseases and pests that threaten domestic citrus production and processing. The program receives $25,000,000 per year in mandatory funding from the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.
