Polk County citrus farmer cautiously optimistic about Oriental fruit fly

Share
Citrus
Citrus. By Ian DeBarry/WMNF

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said in a news release Tuesday there is an Oriental fruit fly infestation in Miami-Dade County. Officials have declared a state of emergency because the fly could potentially attack hundreds of crops there.

But the general manager of the Peace River Packing Company, Larry Black, tells WMNF News there’s no immediate danger to the citrus industry in Polk County.

“I have the confidence that the Department of Agriculture will be able to contain and eradicate the Oriental fruit fly that’s been found in southeast Florida. But yes, it would be a challenge if it were left unchecked and was not contained and eradicated.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

FPREN April hot humid
Florida will be extra hot and humid this weekend before a mid-week cooldown

The next cold front that will push through Florida could...

sunlight atmosphere clouds sky by AlinaMD via iStock for WMNF News
Weather modification bill passes Florida Senate

Listen: A bill to ban weather modification projects passed the...

The Scoop: Fri. April 4, 2025, Florida and Tampa Bay headlines by WMNF

Round up of WMNF news headlines including hurricane season forecast,...

Gulf of Mexico Florida beach and great blue heron
The Florida House votes to change the Gulf’s name to ‘Gulf of America’

Erasing the Gulf of Mexico from state laws and educational...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Step Outside
Step Outside