U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue were in town yesterday meeting with local researchers and citrus farmers. They came to discuss the citrus industry, which is reeling from greening disease. Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that first infects trees that causes them to produce green, misshapen and bitter fruit before finally killing the trees. Rooney and Perdue visited a citrus grove east of Punta Gorda and held a forum in north Lee County. Rooney recently introduced the CITRUS Act, which reauthorizes research funding, authorizes the Citrus Health Response Program and the Huanglongbing Multi-Agency Coordination Group. The CITRUS Act also establishes a new exception for citrus growers to receive expanded eligibility and assistance under the Tree Assistance Program, which provides growers access to programs that incentivize the replanting of healthy trees in heavily affected and abandoned groves.
