Agriculture department prioritizes citrus disease

The United States Department of Agriculture is to award $23 million for research on citrus greening disease.

The Citrus Disease Research and Extension program spent the same amount in 2014 looking for solutions to Huanglongbing, or HLB, a fatal bacterial infection first detected in US citrus plants in 1998.

There is no known cure for HLB, although heavy application of pesticides can control the disease. A study carried out by the University of Florida in 2012 estimated HLB has cost that state’s citrus growers more than $3.5 billion since it first appeared.