USDA Raises Awareness to Citrus Health: Move It AND Lose It
Riverdale, MD (PRWEB) August 18, 2014 -- The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today launched a Save Our Citrus, Move It AND Lose It campaign to raise awareness in citrus-producing states about the risk of spreading deadly citrus diseases by moving citrus trees.
“It’s no longer as simple as buying a citrus tree road side to bring home,” says Abby Yigzaw, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) spokesperson for the Save Our Citrus program. “Save Our Citrus’ Move It AND Lose It campaign is a call to action to citrus consumers. It asks them to do their part in protecting America’s citrus by not moving citrus trees.”
The nine-month campaign is a collaborative effort with State agricultural agency partners in Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Locally-targeted online advertising, social media outreach, and options for reporting detections will deliver the campaign’s message and enable citrus consumers and growers to be citrus disease detectors, adding to the formal industry, state and federal citrus survey activities.
The four serious citrus diseases currently found in the U.S., include Huanglongbing (also known as citrus greening or HLB for short), citrus canker, citrus black spot and sweet orange scab. Learn more about each disease by visiting the What Are the Diseases section of the Save Our Citrus website.
These citrus diseases are not harmful to humans or animals. However, they cause damage and eventually kill citrus trees. When infected trees, fruit and clippings or equipment and workers who have been exposed to citrus diseased areas are moved, the disease goes with them. It is not just commercial citrus that is susceptible to these diseases. Homegrown citrus trees can easily become infected and contribute to disease spread. For more information, read the Five Things You Need to Know on the Save Our Citrus website.
About Save Our Citrus
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) manages the Save Our Citrus campaign. Its goal is to inform the nation about the problem and empower people to take easy steps that will make a lasting difference in the fight against citrus disease. The Save Our Citrus website includes extensive information about each citrus disease, as well as a map detailing affected areas, citrus safety tips, links to additional resources, and information about the need to quarantine certain fruit and plants. To learn more about the Save Our Citrus program, please visit http://www.saveourcitrus.org.
Facebook: facebook.com/saveourcitrus; Twitter: twitter.com/saveourcitrus
Abby Yigzaw, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), http://www.saveourcitrus.org, +1 301.851.4096, [email protected]
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