Florida’s Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) board of directors recently approved a slate of Cycle 5 solid set Program for Expedited Propagation (PEP) projects following recommendations from the Technical Working Group. Eleven projects totaling 455 acres were approved. Projects will focus on comparisons of five scions (Parson Brown, Roble, Carney 2, Carney 3 and Donaldson) on the same rootstock.
PEP, supported by the Florida Department of Citrus and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is ramping up the availability of these five scions, which have shown HLB tolerance.
CRAFT Scientific Coordinator Carisa Keller and the rest of the CRAFT staff continue to work with growers on the development process for all other (non-PEP) Cycle 5 applications. The Technical Working Group will review project designs in preparation for recommendations to the CRAFT board of directors. The board is expected to vote on approvals at its March or April meeting.
All told, more than 14,000 acres worth of new planting proposals will be considered for Cycle 5 funding.
EXISTING TREE THERAPIES PROGRAM
Existing Tree Therapies Round Two participation agreements were finalized and released through the U.S. Postal Service in mid-December. Growers who applied for the Existing Tree Therapies program but have not yet received an agreement should contact CRAFT Program Manager Tamara Wood by email at tamara@craftfdn.org or by phone at 863-698-9276.
CRAFT BACKGROUND
CRAFT was created in 2019 to move lab and research solutions into groves for commercial-scale field trials, collecting data on those trials and creating an integrated data management solution to present the results.
In 2023, the CRAFT public dashboard was introduced. The dashboard is a visualization tool used to display and share data collected by participants in the CRAFT program. View the CRAFT public dashboard here.
Source: Florida Citrus Mutual
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