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PHOENIX (AP) — Citrus growers in Arizona are preparing for the possible outbreak of a disease that has already devastated thousands of acres of fruit trees in Florida and California.
The Arizona Republic reports (http://bit.ly/OQSMxu) that an insect known as the Asian citrus psyllid, which carries the citrus-greening disease, has been detected in western Arizona.
The disease, however, has not yet manifested.
Agriculture officials say the psyllids were discovered at the U.S.-Mexico border in a shipment of limes in June 2013 in Nogales.
The state Department of Agriculture says citrus is a $37 million industry for the state.
State and federal agriculture officials say they are finding it difficult to keep up with the insect's growing population, which spiked in Yuma County.
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