Farmers, researchers try to hold off deadly disease long enough to find a cure

In an orange grove outside Exeter, California, workers climb aluminum ladders to pick fruit with expert speed. California produces 80 percent of the nation’s fresh oranges, tangerines and lemons, most of it in small Central California communities like these.

HLB causes Florida to fall behind California in citrus production   For the first time in 70 years, California has surpassed Florida in citrus production. Florida groves have been decimated by a disease called huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening disease, that threatens citrus production in California, too.

“HLB is not just bad for farmers and the economy,” said Professor Carolyn Slupsky, a biochemist and nutritionist with the University of California, Davis. “The loss of fresh oranges and other citrus is a real possibility and that would seriously impact our health.”