Ca. Citrus Disease Warning and NCBA Applauds Gray Wolf Decision
**To help protect California’s $3.6 billion citrus industry from a new disease threat, ag officials want homeowners to sanitize their gardening tools before using them on citrus trees.
They’re trying to stop spread of the citrus yellow vein clearing virus, first discovered this year in residential citrus trees in Tulare.
The virus has not yet been found in commercial groves.
Insects such as aphids and whiteflies carrying the virus.
Contaminated equipment also can transfer the virus.
**The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau, and other groups applauded an appeals court decision allowing intervention in a case regarding gray wolves.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will allow the coalition to intervene in the Defenders of Wildlife versus the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and defend the previous administration’s delisting of the gray wolf.
Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says the gray wolf is an Endangered Species Act success story.
**National Farm Safety and Health Week is September 19-23.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says about 100 agricultural workers suffer a lost worktime injury every day.
National Farm Safety and Health Week has been held the third week of September since 1944.
This year’s theme, “Protecting Agriculture’s Future,” reminds everyone that the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture is healthy and safe workers.