Annual citrus showcase draws close to 1,000 peopleAnnual citrus showcase draws close to 1,000 people

The annual California Citrus Showcase drew upwards of 1,000 people to the Visalia Convention Center in early March.

The event is hosted by California Citrus Mutual, a voluntary trade organization that represents much of the state's citrus industry.

Topic du jour for this year's event was the advance of the Asian citrus psyllid in California, the discovery of Huanglongbing (citrus greening) in southern California, and the need for commercial growers to be aggressive in their monitoring and treatment of the invasive pest because of its ability to spread the deadly disease in trees.

Those attending the conference luncheon heard from a panel of citrus industry representatives from Texas and Florida on how HLB is spreading there and how growers are attempting to battle the pest and disease while researchers try to find early detection methods and perhaps even a cure for the deadly tree disease.