Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered Soilcea’s CarriCea T1 citrus rootstock in April, Florida growers have ordered more than 300,000 CarriCea trees. The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) recently reported that fact and more information about the new rootstock.
CarriCea T1 was developed by Soilcea, a CRISPR-focused agricultural research company headquartered at the University of South Florida Connect research park in Tampa. Soilcea used discoveries from UF/IFAS Eminent Scholar Nian Wang’s laboratory at the Citrus Research and Education Center.
“CarriCea T1 works with the plant’s own biology to naturally protect against HLB and provide a more promising path forward for American citrus production,” said Yianni Lagos, president and CEO of Soilcea.
The technology was exclusively licensed through UF Innovate, UF’s technology commercialization office. It was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“This breakthrough exemplifies the world-class agricultural research and innovation taking place at UF/IFAS, our increasing focus on using biotech tools to accelerate solutions for growers and our enhanced efforts to commercialize innovations,” said J. Scott Angle, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources and head of UF/IFAS.
“The license to Soilcea has been a model for collaboration with a startup company,” said John Byatt, retired associate director of UF Innovate | Tech Licensing. “The path from discovery to license to product to market has taken nine years, but during that time Soilcea has continuously communicated its progress with Dr. Wang and with UF Innovate.”
Because CarriCea T1 is designed to restore the tree’s natural ability to defend against HLB, growers now have access to a new rootstock option that could help sustain citrus production for future generations, UF/IFAS stated. The resulting fruit is considered non-bioengineered by the USDA.
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