CRAFT

CRAFT Continues to Push New Plantings and HLB Therapies

Daniel CooperCRAFT, Events

CRAFT
Steven Hall said CRAFT programs have touched more than 90,000 acres or Florida citrus.

During the recent Florida Citrus Industry Annual Conference, Steven Hall provided an update on the Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) programs. Hall is executive director of the CRAFT Foundation.

CRAFT programs have been very popular among growers to incentivize new plantings and build knowledge about HLB therapies like trunk injection, the use of individual protective covers, plant growth regulators and more.

Hall said CRAFT has funded six cycles for the new plantings program. The existing tree therapies program has seen three cycles. The new plantings program has accounted for 20,500 new acres of citrus. The existing tree therapies program has funded research in 73,371 acres of groves. More than 1,500 projects have been funded in 16 counties in Florida.

DATA COMING

Hall also provided an update on the data portal that will be hosted on the foundation’s website. The data portal will provide a wealth of information on rootstocks and varieties growers are planting and how HLB therapies are working in the real world.

He showed a sample of how the data portal dashboard will look when available to the public. He said the plan is to have the dashboard available online later this year.

“This will be information coming directly from growers who are participating in programs and will really allow us to drill down into how well these different approaches are working,” Hall said.

FUNDING UPDATE

Hall also provided an update on CRAFT funding. This year, the foundation has received $2.1 million in federal dollars. Hall said he believes that funding will continue.

At the time of his presentation, the Florida Legislature was still hammering out a budget deal, which would dictate how much funding CRAFT would receive in the coming fiscal year. Hall said he was hopeful that a historic milestone would be surpassed in state funding for citrus and CRAFT.

That hope was realized when the Florida Legislature agreed to a budget deal that included a historic $140 million for the state’s citrus sector. CRAFT is set to receive $104.5 million of that allocation. The measure now awaits the signature of Gov. DeSantis.

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