The U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program awarded 54 grants and 524 sub-award projects totaling $72.9 million for fiscal year 2024. The following citrus projects were included in the funding.
CALIFORNIA
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) received a grant for $448,742 for mitigating huanglongbing (HLB) in citrus using naturally-derived antimicrobials. The University of California (UC) Riverside has demonstrated that infection of the HLB-associated pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), causes a significant increase in the relative abundance of sectors of the microbiome that include potential beneficial microbes that possess competitive antibiosis properties. The purpose of this project is to amplify known competitive interactions to enable the native citrus microbiome to defeat CLas by developing biologicals that target CLas. This project will focus on scaling up production of the lead bioinoculant strain and the anti-CLas compound it produces for testing in whole plant assays for HLB suppression.
CDFA received a $498,393 grant for a UC Riverside project to unlock the potential of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) for commercial citrus nursery growers. The project aims to improve citrus plant growth and stress resilience by optimizing photobiology (photosynthesis and photomorphogenesis) under CEA. Goals include:
- Assessing optimal light conditions for growth
- Elucidating light-dependent disease symptom expression
- Translating this science into real-world solutions for commercial growers
- Assessing CEA’s energy and cost efficiencies
- Expanding outreach to underserved farmers
FLORIDA
University of Florida will use the CRISPR-Cas technology to generate and evaluate non-transgenic canker-resistant sweet orange and grapefruit varieties. The grant, issued to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is for $243,257.
GEORGIA
The University of Georgia will use a $99,940 grant to the Georgia Department of Agriculture to optimize and accelerate citrus nursery production. The project will develop scientifically based practices focused on propagation methods, lighting and irrigation strategies. Results will be disseminated to stakeholders for large-scale implementation.
TEXAS
The Texas Citrus Pest and Disease Management Corporation will launch an outreach campaign educating Texans about citrus pests, diseases and quarantines and the vital role in safeguarding the Texas citrus industry from the Asian citrus psyllid, Mexican fruit fly, citrus canker and HLB. The project will be accomplished through targeted distribution of printed materials, a billboard campaign and a digital campaign targeting residents across the Rio Grande Valley. The grant, issued to the Texas Department of Agriculture, is for $100,000.
See the full list of Specialty Crop Block Grant Program projects here.
Source: USDA AMS
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