The USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Customs and Border Protection held a health program outreach to educate the community about deadly citrus diseases that are destroying U.S. citrus trees. This outreach program is unusual because it is also a combined effort with Mexico to prevent plant diseases and insect pests that affect citrus plants. There are two particular diseases that affect the citrus fruit: citrus canker and citrus greening. Although these have not been found in Texas, they have been found in Florida and Mexico, causing fruit and tree decay which effects the state's citrus economy.
The Asian citrus psyllid is an insect found in citrus trees in Texas. The infected insect carries out the disease and spreads it to the entire tree. In south Texas, 25,000 trees have been tested but all have resulted negative. Larry Hawkins, USDA and APHIS spokesperson mentioned that the USDA prohibits the movement of citrus trees from outside the state of Florida. Many citizens have been ordering citrus trees online and not know if they could be infected or not. A company from Florida is pending a legal case for transferring citrus trees.
"They don't know whether the plants were diseased but they know they were illegal," said Hawkins. It is advised to destroy a citrus plant found in Texas if it is not from a local organization. Although the fruit is not harmful, it has a deformed shaped and it is bitter. "We have caught people moving material into Texas but to our knowledge none of those trees actually got to their final destination," concluded Hawkins on people smuggling citrus plants out of Florida. A preview of the campaign video was shown and was distributed to the media.
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