In April, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) hosted its annual Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute in Avon Park. The event is the subject of discussion in the April All In For Citrus podcast episode.
Michael Rogers, director of the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), says the Institute is among the big three citrus events each year. The others are the Florida Citrus Show held in March and the Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo scheduled for Aug. 12–13 in Fort Myers.
The morning session of the Institute included timely presentations from UF/IFAS citrus researchers. After lunch, a meet-and-greet format gave growers the opportunity to converse with scientists one-on-one.
Rogers discusses a presentation by Ute Albrecht, UF/IFAS associate professor of plant physiology, which laid out data from her ongoing research on trunk-injection of oxytetracycline. Her trials over three years show steady improvement in yields, and fruit-quality improvements are beginning to show up.
Rogers also emphasizes the importance of the presentation given by Matt Smith, UF/IFAS Extension commercial crop production and food systems agent for Lake and Orange counties. His talk outlined new pesticide regulations related to the Endangered Species Act. Growers need to understand what these rules mean and how they impact herbicides and insecticides. Fungicide regulations are coming soon.
The podcast also includes an interview with Smith on the scene at the Institute. He discusses pesticide use limitation areas (PULAs) in detail. PULAs are part of the new rules for pesticide application. Smith says this is no longer a regulation coming soon; it is a regulation that is in place.
Also included in the podcast are interviews with UF/IFAS entomologist Lukasz Stelinski and UF/IFAS weed scientist Ramdas Kanissery, conducted at the Institute. Don’t miss these discussions in the latest All In For Citrus podcast. The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.
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