Mark Collins has run Evergreen Wholesale, a 230-acre plant nursery in San Diego, for over 40 years. But this year, he almost had to shut it down after employees from the state agriculture department destroyed more than 32,000 of his citrus plants because of an anti-pest regulation.
Collins is now suing California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in federal court, claiming the state cost him up to $3 million in damages.
Collins’ battle with the state stems from an invasive insect called the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). The ACP is a tiny speckled brown insect, just one-eighth of an inch long, that has wreaked havoc on the U.S. citrus industry. The bugs carry an incurable malady called huanglongbing, or “citrus greening” disease, which causes infected trees to produce bitter, green fruits. The disease poses no threat to humans or animals, but it causes infected trees to die within a few years and has devastated Florida’s citrus farms…