Approve U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan bill to help struggling farmers recover from citrus greening

As Manatee County celebrates the vital importance of agriculture during Farm City Week this month, Congressman Vern Buchanan steps up once again to help Florida citrus growers. His latest effort with federal legislation also benefits farmers grappling with the costly and deadly disease of citrus greening.

The Longboat Key Republican introduced a bill last week that helps reduce the high costs of replanting crops that fall prey to the bacterial disease. The Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act (H.R. 3957) allows struggling farmers to tap investors to raise capital for replanting crops instead of bearing the full cost alone, as current law mandates for the tax break. Those incentives -- an immediate deduction for the cost of replacing diseased trees -- would be available to farmers as long as they maintain a majority stake in the grove. This is indeed, as Buchanan states, "common sense legislation."

Greening has plagued Florida's 32 citrus-growing counties -- including Manatee -- since the tiny insect known as the Asian citrus psyllid came ashore in Miami around a decade ago and spread rapidly. Manatee County ranks ninth in the state for citrus production with 18,000 acres in production, producing $39 million in annual revenue.

Citrus is the state's largest cash crop. Nearly 300,000 acres of citrus and some 7,500 jobs have been lost statewide to citrus greening. From 2006 to 2014, greening cost growers $2.9 billion in revenue. Overall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates citrus pumps $9 billion annually into Florida's economy, so greening has been devastating to many farmers and groves.

There is no cure for the disease, which causes hard, bitter, green fruit before killing the tree. Those infected trees must be destroyed. Insecticides and other farming methods help prevent the spread of the insect.

Florida's agriculture industry as well as state and local governments have been pumping money into research with numerous scientists and projects working on a cure and vaccine. That adds up to more than a $230 million investment over the past decade.

Buchanan helped spearhead efforts to allocate $125 million in federal funds to combat citrus greening last year as part of the five-year farm bill signed into law by President Obama. The legislation also earmarked another $125 million in discretionary funding that must pass muster with the annual appropriations process before going into vital research.

Some of those projects involve not just pest control and chemical agents but plant nutrition, genetic engineering and the development of a more disease-resistant tree.

While Florida stands as the top citrus-producing state in the country, greening has spread from South Carolina, Georgia and other Gulf coast states to Arizona and California. This pest is a national issue that threatens a vital food source.

We applaud Vern Buchanan for his continuing efforts to provide assistance to citrus growers in Florida and around the nation. As he noted in announcing the new legislation, this is another bipartisan bid to help alleviate the damage from this disease. The people's business, not politics, should take center stage in Washington. Passage of the Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act should be a no-brainer.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Approve U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan bill to help struggling farmers recover from citrus greening ."