Supervisors set April 12 hearing for pest control district

An April 12 San Diego County Board of Supervisors hearing will determine the fate of a proposed Citrus Pest Control District in part of San Diego County.

The hearing to create the Citrus Pest Control District covering farms in Pala, Pauma Valley, San Pasqual, and Borrego Springs was set by a 5-0 Board of Supervisors vote March 15. The proposed district's property owners and board would determine the fees or funding sources to prevent outbreaks of huanglongbing disease which are fatal to citrus trees.

"The Asian Citrus Psyllid can wipe out crops and threaten the livelihood of farmers," said Supervisor Bill Horn, who grows grapefruit and tangelos as well as avocados on his Valley Center farm. "I think we would be doing the agricultural community a great service by giving farmers the collective authority to make decisions about protecting their property from these pests."

A single Asian Citrus Psyllid can be a vector of huanglongbing disease which causes tree death, and a psyllid can carry huanglongbing from an infected tree to a previously-healthy tree.

Every Florida county which grows citrus now has huanglongbing. The first Asian Citrus Psyllid find in San Diego County was detected in 2008 and the first find in North County occurred in Valley Center in 2009.

The first known case of huanglongbing in Los Angeles County was detected in March 2012, and 38 trees have tested positive for the disease. Huanglongbing has also been detected in northern Baja California.

On a statewide basis citrus crops contribute $2.5 billion to the state's economy, and according to the 2015 county crop report citrus accounted for $126 million of San Diego County's crop value.

Huanglongbing would also put residential and other non-commercial citrus trees at risk. Although huanglongbing has not been detected in San Diego County, the entire county is under an Asian Citrus Psyllid quarantine.

The California Food and Agriculture Code allows growers to petition for a Citrus Pest Control District. The district's growers and board would implement and administer the district which would assess a property tax on commercial citrus groves and use that money for control, containment, or treatment activities.

"The pest control district is a collaborative pest management tool," said county agricultural commissioner Ha Dang. "It's an option to address the increasing risk of huanglongbing in San Diego County."

If property owners representing at least 51 percent of the proposed district's acreage sign a petition and that petition is presented to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, the county supervisors then make a determination whether the proposed district is feasible and in the interest of the owners. The hearing shall be between 20 and 40 days after the filing of the petition.

A petition was circulated among growers of at least 25 citrus trees.

On March 8, Dang notified Asian Citrus Psyllid Task Force chair Warren Lyall, whose ranch is in Pauma Valley, that the owners of 3,603 of 4,503 acres, or 80 percent, had indicated support.

The support included ownership of 1,899 of 1,991 acres, or 95 percent, in Pala and Pauma Valley. The Borrego Springs support represented 1,593 of 2,422 acres, or 66 percent, while the San Pasqual support was 110 of 671 acres, of 16 percent.

The petition sent to growers by the San Diego County Farm Bureau also included the option to oppose the district or to state that citrus was no longer being farmed on the property; no property owners indicated opposition to the Citrus Pest Control District. That certified petition was submitted to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors on March 9.

The April 12 formation date will allow the Citrus Pest Control District board to create a budget and to set a tax assessment in accordance with state law, which would be included on the property owners' 2017-18 property tax bill.