I am greatly concerned by the decisions that have been and are being made by County Agriculture Commissioner Cathy Fisher ( "Nasty Bug Appears as County Slashes Top Pest, Plant Jobs ) which are likely to take Santa Barbara down the road to unfortunate and deleterious consequences. The commissioner’s personnel decisions to downgrade, if not eliminate, her department's science department are particularly short-sighted, if not calamitous, coming as they do with the discovery of the Asian citrus psyllid in Santa Barbara — a bug that can carry a bacteria that causes huanglongbing, or HLB, a fatal disease that could wipe out our citrus industry, much as it has in Florida.
This is a matter of great concern to our agriculture industry but also to all our residents and to the environmental health of our community. The minor budgetary gains from Commissioner Fisher’s decision may ultimately be overshadowed by the negative impact to our farming industry and residents if we are not adequately equipped with qualified personnel.
The Agricultural Weights and Measures Office is a regulatory agency with a budget just over $5 million. It employs just three ag scientists.