Risk-based residential HLB/ACP survey for California, Texas and Arizona

The recent discoveries of HLB in the Los Angeles Basin and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas underscore the imminent danger of HLB spread in these two States and the urgent need for highly sensitive survey methods for early detection of new residential infections of HLB combined with rapid intervention to contain and eliminate further spread. The Arizona citrus industry is also at considerable risk due to the proximity to the Mexican border and continued immigration of ACP from Mexico. The 2008 economic downturn has led to dwindling fiscal resources for many regulatory agencies including those tasked with conducting the survey for HLB. Therefore, sampling efforts need to be deployed based on potential risk introduction and threat to commercial citrus to optimize early detection. A risk-based residential survey has recently been constructed and deployed in Southern California and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and is being designed for Southern Arizona.