Three Key Meetings for CRDF

The February board meeting of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) covered a lot of ground according to Rick Dantzler, the foundation’s chief operating officer.

“We had a big day on the day of the board meeting. There were three meetings: 1) our monthly board meeting; 2) a research summit with citrus organization leaders, the CRDF board and CRDF committee members to go over our research strategy; and 3) a board retreat to review our organizational procedures,” Dantzler said.

During the board meeting, members of the CRDF research committee were approved. The board also considered a large project dealing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences citrus breeding programs.

“At the research summit, we reviewed our research to confirm that we were doing what the industry wanted,” Dantzler said. “The strategy has three components: 1) getting the most out of oxytetracycline (OTC) injections, 2) finding a substitute for OTC if that should become necessary and 3) developing the ‘tree of the future.’ Of course, we don’t ignore other pressing issues like citrus black spot and diaprepes, but those three legs of our research stool were the subject of 28 of the 31 projects we approved last year.”

The board retreat focused on CRDF processes and procedures. Dantzler said this was particularly helpful for new board members to help them get familiarized with the organization.

“All in all, it was a very productive day,” he said.   CRDF was formed in 2009 as a non-profit corporation organized under Florida state laws as a direct support organization of the University of Florida. Its mission is to “advance disease and production research and product development activities to ensure the survival and competitiveness of Florida’s citrus growers through innovation and research.”

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