Citrus Greening Disease (Huanglongbing) in Florida: Economic Impact, Management and the Potential for Biological Control

Economic value of conservation biological control for management of the Asian citrus psyllid, vector of citrus Huanglongbing disease

“…Hence, effective action against this disease, whether it is present or not, can be achieved through efficient vector management. Current vector management programs rely on frequent insecticide applications aimed to keep ACP numbers as close to zero as possible . This reactive approach helps reduce the progression of vector populations, movement, and infection rates.…”

“…Operative and easy sampling methods have been developed, conservative yet effective insecticide programs are being implemented, and area‐wide vector monitoring programs are coordinated to help farmers synchronize pesticide applications in local citrus health management areas (CHMAs) . There have also been proposals for economic threshold strategies in cases of moderate‐to‐high HLB incidence and for BC approaches for vector management …”

“…Current vector management programs rely on frequent insecticide applications aimed to keep ACP numbers as close to zero as possible. [23][24][25] This reactive approach helps reduce the progression of vector populations, movement, and infection rates. Although this may maintain the economic viability of citrus operations in the short or medium term, this approach is costly, will greatly hinder the development of IPM approaches, and raises concerns about human health and environmental sustainability.…”

“…32 There have also been proposals for economic threshold strategies in cases of moderate-to-high HLB incidence 21,33 and for BC approaches for vector management. 25,31,[34][35][36] Despite all these efforts, there is a lack of a comprehensive economic evaluation of the potential impacts of intensive ACP insecticide programs commonly used in citrus agroecosystems. This makes it challenging for farmers to understand the actual costs of these strategies and their long-term viability.…”

Cost effectiveness of biological control of invasive mole crickets in Florida pastures

“…Many economic analyses have been completed for weed biological control projects (Culliney, 2005;McFadyen, 2008) but there are considerably fewer for insects (Voegele, 1989;Alvarez et al, 2016;Naranjo et al, 2015). Hill and Greathead (2000) included both weed and insect biological control in their analysis of 27 classical biological control programs worldwide that were conducted for 30-40 years and all but one had a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) greater than 1:1, indicating that successful programs are cost effective.…”