Florida citrus growers

Keeping Citrus Greening out of Georgia Groves

Tacy CalliesCitrus Greening, Georgia

By Clint Thompson Citrus greening disease is not yet a problem in Georgia. Jonathan Oliver, University of Georgia (UGA) assistant professor and small fruits pathologist, wants to keep it that way. The disease that has impacted citrus production in Florida for more than a decade has only been observed in backyard plantings in Georgia. However, since the state is expected …

trained

Trained Dogs Are the Most Efficient Way to Hunt Citrus Industry’s Biggest Threat

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release

(USDA/ARS) — Dogs specially trained by Agriculture Research Service (ARS) scientists have proven to be the most efficient way to detect huanglongbing— also known as citrus greening — according to a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Currently, the only solid hope of curtailing the spread of citrus greening is to eliminate trees with the …

Citrus Greening Bacterium Is Now Available in Culture — So What’s Next?

Tacy CalliesCitrus Greening, Research

By Nabil Killiny A dynamic research collaboration between several labs at Washington State University (Gang, Beyenal and Omsland labs), University of Arizona (Brown lab) and University of Florida (Killiny lab) recently reported an important step in the long-sought culture of the bacterium [Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas)] associated with huanglongbing (HLB). The work, published in the journal Biofilm, describes a new …

citrus

Stay Sought in Citrus Tree Appeal

Daniel CooperCitrus, Citrus Greening, financial, Industry News Release

(NSF) — The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services wants the Florida Supreme Court to put on hold a legal battle about payments to Lee County homeowners whose healthy citrus trees were cut down amid an effort to halt the spread of citrus-canker disease. The department on Wednesday filed a motion for a stay, after taking the long-running case to the Supreme Court last …

rubio

Rubio Secures Funding for Citrus Greening

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release, Legislative

The Senate passed an appropriations minibus package that included critical funds for Florida secured by Senator Rubio (H.R 3055, Commerce, Justice, Science, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, Interior, Environment, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act of 2020). In his role on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Rubio secured major funds for Florida’s citrus industry:  $8.5 million …

hurner

Laurie Hurner: Citrus Is in Her Blood

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release

Laurie Hurner grew up in a fifth-generation Florida citrus-growing family, and she and her sisters worked their farm in Highlands County. “My parents had three daughters,” said Hurner, the director of University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension Highlands County and the county’s citrus agent. “We were all well-rounded.” From their mom, the girls learned what …

Florida orange

Oxytetracycline Sprays vs. Trunk Injections

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release, Research

Since 2016, federal authorities have allowed Florida citrus growers to spray oxytetracycline solutions on their trees to combat citrus greening disease. A newly published University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) study suggests that the bactericide would be more effective if it were injected into citrus tree trunks, a practice not currently approved under U.S. law. Citrus …

citrus greening

Studying Citrus Greening with an Integrated Approach

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Diseases, HLB Management, Industry News Release, Psyllids, Research

While citrus growers continue to look for best management approaches to deal with the deadly greening disease, scientists will take an integrated look at how to protect young trees by using existing tools growers can use. Five scientists from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) will compare insect management tools, including insect-proof netting. Researchers also …

UF/IFAS

Jack Payne Announces Retirement

Daniel CooperAgriculture, Citrus, Citrus Greening, Research

After serving nearly 10 years as the senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Jack Payne announced he will retire next year. His last day with UF/IFAS will be July 1, 2020. Payne has overseen Extension offices across Florida and its 12 research and education centers since …

psyllids

Artificial Intelligence Could Help Citrus Growers Detect Psyllids

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release, Psyllids, Research, Technology

Precision agriculture engineer Yiannis Ampatzidis sees a day when citrus farmers use artificial intelligence (AI) to detect the pin-sized insects that can infect the fruit’s trees with the deadly greening disease. That day could come in the near future, because Ampatzidis and his research team are starting to perfect a system to detect the potentially deadly Asian citrus psyllid. Citrus …

grapefruit

Grapefruit Grown Under Protective Screens Maximizes Fruit Yield

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, CUPS, Grapefruit, Industry News Release, Research

Growers of one of Florida’s signature citrus crops may see more production and possibly less of the deadly citrus greening disease. Researchers have worked for four years growing grapefruit under protective screens on a 1-acre experimental plot at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), and they’re seeing encouraging results. UF/IFAS scientists and a few commercial …

acp

ACP Found in Sacramento

Len WilcoxCalifornia Corner, Citrus Greening, HLB Management

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), working in cooperation with the Sacramento County agricultural commissioner, has placed Sacramento County under a plant pest quarantine for the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) following the detection of one ACP in Sacramento’s Lemon Hill area.  The quarantine prohibits the movement of citrus and curry leaf tree nursery stock and all plant parts, …

hlb

Large-Scale Citrus Field Trials Idea Surfaces

Daniel CooperCitrus, Citrus Greening, HLB Management, Research

Citrus research continues to be a topic in state and federal funding circles as the industry’s battle with HLB, or citrus greening, continues. One idea in the incubator of industry discussion is the Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) program. It would involve large-scale grower field trials throughout Florida. Rick Dantzler, chief operating officer of the Citrus Research and Development …

florida citrus

Citrus Funding Could Remain Steady as Results Sought

Daniel CooperCitrus, Citrus Greening

Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Ron Bradley supports maintaining the current level of funding for the state’s citrus industry, as a decade of research about combating deadly citrus greening disease is applied more in groves. After hearing presentations Wednesday from citrus-industry leaders, Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said there “certainly” won’t be a drop from this year’s $23.2 million in funding. At the …

chemicals

Automated System Under Study to Deliver Bactericides

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release, Research

Imagine using a robotic arm to grip and puncture the trunk of a citrus tree to deliver chemicals into the vascular parts of the plant, reducing its susceptibility to the citrus greening disease. Ozgur Batuman, an assistant professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), leads a team of researchers trying to …

greening

Developing New Greening-Tolerant Citrus

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release, Research

When Nian Wang pieces together sequences of genes, he hopes to make citrus varieties that are more tolerant to the deadly disease known as citrus greening, which has devastated a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry in Florida. Wang, a professor of microbiology and cell science with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), will help an investigation in which …

citrus greening

Study Zeroes in on Organic Ways to Beat Citrus Greening

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release, Research

Results show promise for organic groves, but more research is needed. Since it was first discovered in the United States in 2005, the bacterial disease known as citrus greening, or Huanglongbing, has devastated millions of acres of citrus crops throughout this country and abroad, ravaging citrus groves in Asia, Africa and South America. Citrus greening has impacted conventional and organic …

growers

Growers to Learn About Pest Management at Workshop

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release, Pests, Psyllids

Citrus growers can learn more about managing Asian citrus psyllids and other pests in a workshop Jan. 8 at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC). The psyllid can transmit the bacteria associated with greening disease to citrus trees and has already caused severe damage to Florida’s multi-billion-dollar-a-year citrus industry. …

Kaolin Clay May Be Viable Option to Protect Citrus Trees from ACP

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release, Psyllids, Research

Florida citrus growers have begun taking notice of kaolin clay, a powdery white compound, because it can cause Asian citrus psyllids (ACP) to “not take notice” of their groves. Long used to protect other fruit and vegetable crops, kaolin can also conceal citrus trees from hungry psyllids by confusing their visual sensory system, said Michael Rogers, director of the Citrus …

citrus forecast

USDA Grant Could Help Florida’s Grapefruit Industry

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Grapefruit, HLB Management, Industry News Release

Florida’s grapefruit industry, devastated by citrus greening, may find hope in four ½-acre white-mesh screenhouses in a research field in Fort Pierce. The project will be funded by a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded to the University of Florida. Studies for the grant will take place inside and outside these structures, where 512 young …