Beth Grafton-Cardwell and her team at Lindcove - Citrus Research ...

EDITORIAL
4 Citrograph July/August 2011
BY TED A. BATKIN, President, Citrus Research Board
It’s all about communications…
We are in for a
very long battle
with this pest in
California, and
we need all the
help we can get
from the public.
I
recently completed the Annual Media Tour for
the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program
(CPDPP) where we covered California
and Arizona from Yuma to Sacramento. During
the week-long tour, we completed 28 interviews
with various TV, radio, and print media outlets.
Along the way we were joined by John Loghry,
John Gless Jr., Nick Hill and Tony Aguilar, all
growers from the areas we were covering.
The most interesting thing about the tour this
year was the very open and positive response from
the media in helping us promote the message to
homeowners. The message was very clear: 1.
Look at your trees in your yard for symptoms of
ACP; 2. Cooperate with the CDFA officials when
asked to place a trap or treat a population; and,
3. Please only plant trees from a certified nursery
(in Southern California) that carry the blue CDFA
tag, and do not bring trees from the Southern
California quarantine area to Northern California.
This message is clear and concise and works well
with the radio and TV media. They like very short
“sound bites”.
This strategy was developed to support the CP-
DPC and CDFA programs in Southern California,
mainly in the Los Angeles area. It also was
presented to help prevent the movement
of ACP into the San Joaquin Valley
and points north. We are in for a very long battle with this pest in California, and
we need all the help we can get from the public.
One thing I did find from the travels was the amount of interest from everyone
about keeping their trees safe from the pest and disease. One of the radio
shows was a 30-minute segment on Cindy Dole’s Garden Show on KFWB
News Talk in Los Angeles. Here we were able to fully develop the story about
the problem that both homeowners and growers share. When faced with the
reality, everyone wants to get involved and help with the solutions.
So, to answer the question: “Why are you spending time and money with
PR and outreach?” The answer is simple. The more cooperation we get from
the public, the more successful the detection and treatment programs will be in
the urban areas. We all understand the problem as growers, but at present that is
not where we are waging the battle with the pest. The members of the Citrus Pest and
Disease Prevention Committee understand this formula and have included this public
outreach effort as a part of the total program here in California (and the Arizona border).
We will continue the efforts as part of a long-term strategy to keep the California citrus
industry strong and viable for many years to come. l