Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has approved temporary use of three bactericides to fight citrus greening, which is threatening to anihilate the state’s citrus crop.
The treatments will slow but not cure the problem.
The state’s citrus crop has dwindled from 250 million boxes harvested 15 years ago to a predicted 65 million this year.
Citrus greening causes orange, grapefruit, and other citrus trees to produce small, bitter fruit that drop before they are ripe.
Infected trees eventually wither and die.
