Photo by Dave Hall
The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) announced May 28 it has invested nearly $23 million in 14 HLB projects in 2025. The projects seek to find solutions to combat and prevent HLB in citrus. The projects are part of the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program.
The University of Florida is the only organization to receive multiple awards; it received eight. The awards, by recipient organization, project title and award amount (rounded to the nearest $100,000), are:
- Soil Culture Solutions, LLC: Multiplexing CRISPR-mediated breeding of HLB-resistant citrus varieties targeting Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus effector interactomes using protoplast transfection, $1.1 million
- Texas A&M AgriLife Research: Evaluation of novel aerial root and inarch graft systems for enhancing the delivery of HLB therapies into citrus tree vasculature, $1.1 million
- University of California, Davis: Systems approaches to integrate biology and information technology in improved ACP/HLB dynamics models and regional management tools, $1 million
- University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.: Evaluation of the risk of HLB in cold-hardy citrus production systems, $1.1 million
- University of Florida: Speed up the release of non-GMO HLB-resistant/tolerant citrus varieties via a multi-tiered decision-making approach, $6.2 million
- University of Florida: Make transgenic citrus lines with robust HLB tolerance available to the citrus industry; $1.5 million
- University of Florida: Guided therapeutic delivery: Improving HLB-affected tree health through physiology-directed volume, timing and location of injection, $1.5 million
- University of Florida: Developing effective strategies to enhance HLB tolerance in susceptible scions by leveraging resilient rootstock genetic resources, $1.5 million
- University of Florida: Development of novel antifeedant insecticides to prevent horizontal transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, $1.4 million
- University of Florida: Individual protective cover + oxytetracycline = recipe for success?, $1.2 million
- University of Florida: Understand and identify HLB tolerance in citrus and its relatives, $1.1 million
- University of Florida: Rapid selection of HLB resistance genes to fast track citrus variety development, $1.1 million
- University of Wisconsin System: Bringing RejuAgro to market: Development of a groundbreaking trunk injection biopesticide for HLB, $1.5 million
- USDA Agricultural Research Service: Control citrus HLB by using the citrus isolate of Nectarine marafivirus M and its expression system, $1.5 million
Source: USDA NIFA
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