The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) board of directors gathered for its August meeting. Its first order of business was a review of an auditor’s report.
“I’m pleased to report there were no findings. A clean audit is always good news,” said Rick Dantzler, chief operating officer of CRDF.
The board dedicated time to the budget, analyzing funds available for new research. Dantzler said several research proposals are in hand, and the board discussed scouring the landscapes for “game-changer” research topics that could reset the industry and get back the infrastructure that has been lost over the past three years.
“I provided a status report on our effort to fund the creation of a complete list of all rootstock and scion trials we have helped fund over the years,” Dantzler added. “This will set the stage for possible future CRDF investment in plant improvement as well as helping to identify gaps and redundancies in plant improvement operations.
“We agreed on modifications to the CRDF rootstock trials and endorsed a contract with Southern Citrus Nurseries to grow the trees for our upcoming scion trials.”
Matt Joyner, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual, reported on the latest news from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Huanglongbing Multiagency Coordination group. He also gave an update on discussions he has had with federal and state regulators on the effort to get the injection of novel oxytetracycline formulations approved for use by growers.
“We also had a discussion with Dr. Larry Duncan (University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor) on diaprepes, which is a growing problem for growers,” Dantzler said. “This was not a presentation but a discussion in which we invited the members of the CRDF Research Management Committee to attend. We had a robust discussion of available products and treatment options for growers.”
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