According to the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC), sales of 100 percent orange juice (OJ) continue to show promising results. In the 4-week period ending Aug. 1, average year-over-year sales of total OJ increased 21 percent with 32.64 million equivalent gallons sold, per the latest Nielsen retail sales report. Sales of not-from-concentrate (NFC) OJ increased 27 percent for the period. …
Citrus Researcher Earns National Award
Researcher. Scholar. Change agent. Nian Wang, a professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), has been recognized for all of these roles with an award from the American Phytopathological Society (APS) at its 2020 annual meeting. Wang received the Ruth Allen award, which honors people who have made an outstanding, innovative research contribution that has …
Get Citrus Growers’ Institute CEUs
Citrus growers can get continuing education units (CEUs) from the 2020 Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute, even though the in-person version of the annual event was cancelled due to COVID-19. Multi-county citrus Extension agent Chris Oswalt discusses how growers and others can get their restricted-use pesticide license or Certified Crop Advisor CEUs. “We have started to receive those presentations from those …
New Targets Found for HLB Treatments
Thanks to recent advances in metabolic modeling, scientists are closer to gaining the upper hand on citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing or HLB), a disease that has wiped out citrus orchards across the globe. New models of the bacterium linked to the disease reveal control methods that were previously unavailable. Metabolic models of organisms are like road maps of …
Made in the Shade
Feral citrus growing in natural hammocks reveals insights about production and HLB. By Christopher Vincent and Anirban Guha Would you rather go outside in August and stand for a few hours in the sun or in the shade? It turns out citrus prefers the shade, too. In the past two years, we have been researching the health of citrus growing …
World Orange Production to Fall
Global orange production for 2019-20 is estimated to fall 7.8 million metric tons (MMT) from the previous year to 46.1 MMT, according to a July report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Consumption is forecast to be flat, though not down. Global trade is expected to be lower with an anticipated drop in exports from Brazil and …
Reusing Oilfield Produced Water for Irrigation
California citrus growers and other farmers in the Bakersfield area may feel vindicated with the result of a new study by researchers at Duke University and RTI International. As reported in the California Department of Food and Agriculture Planting Seeds blog, the study finds that reusing oilfield water that’s been mixed with surface water to irrigate farms in the Cawelo …
Forecast: Europe’s Tangerine Crop to Decline
The European Union (EU) tangerine crop forecast for 2019-20 shows a 14 percent decrease from the previous year, to 2.7 million metric tons (MMT), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) recently reported. The expected production is 13 percent lower than the nine-year average production of 3.1 MMT. The FAS reported that the EU has reduced its tangerine …
Global Orange Juice Production to Drop
Global orange juice production for 2019-20 is estimated to slip 23 percent from last season, to 1.6 million tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Much of the blame falls on Brazil and Mexico, where fewer oranges are expected to be available for processing. Worldwide orange juice consumption is projected to be flat, though not down. …
Spain Pulls Down Europe’s Grapefruit Forecast
A projected decline in Spain’s grapefruit crop in 2019-20 will lead to an 11 percent decline in the all-European Union (EU) grapefruit forecast compared to last season. EU total production is pegged at 96,720 metric tons (MT). Other EU grapefruit-producing countries will increase or maintain production. That’s according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural …
UF/IFAS Available to Help Growers
Grower meetings have been curtailed due to COVID-19, but Extension agents and specialists with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) are available to assist growers needing in-person help. “We do have the ability to get out and travel and come see folks,” says Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) Director Michael Rogers. “If there are …
Growing Finger Limes in Florida: Lessons Learned So Far
By Manjul Dutt and Jude Grosser Finger lime, a distant relative of sweet orange and grapefruit, is a relatively new crop species for Florida. It is an Australian native species that has been gaining in popularity and importance in the last few years because of its unique fruit characteristics and disease tolerance, which sets it apart from conventional sweet orange …
Snails Posing Problems in Florida Groves
A snail causing problems in Highlands County and South Florida groves “appears to be popping up all over the state,” said entomologist Lauren Diepenbrock. The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researcher identified the snails as Bulimulus sporadicus. “It was first documented in Florida in 2009,” Diepenbrock said. “Citrus is not the only crop to be …
All In For Citrus Podcast, July 2020
July’s All in For Citrus podcast episode focuses on online educational opportunities for growers as in-person events continue to get canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Citrus Research and Education Center Director Michael Rogers begins the program with an update on the phased reopening of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). Rogers says more researchers are …
Oak Leaf Extracts Display Curative Effects Against HLB
As demand increases for a cure to huanglongbing (HLB), experts are studying the most effective ways to control the damaging citrus disease. A research project funded by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is focusing on the effects of oak leaf extracts on CLas-infected citrus trees. CLas (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus) is the bacteria the causes …
A New Baseline for Orange Juice Sales
A new webinar presentation from the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) Economic and Market Research Department shows that U.S. orange juice (OJ) retail sales continue to remain up. A data source for the webinar is the FDOC Nielsen Topline Report #10 of the 2019-20 Season for the four-week period ending July 4, 2020. According to Marisa Zansler, director of FDOC’s …
APHIS Annual Report Highlights Citrus Efforts
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently released an annual report titled “Plant Protection and Quarantine: Helping U.S. Agriculture Thrive — Across the Country and Around the World.” The document includes updates on efforts to manage citrus diseases. “PPQ (Plant Protection and Quarantine) stands shoulder-to-shoulder with citrus growers to combat citrus canker, huanglongbing (HLB …
Growers Urged to Continue HLB Best Practices
The University of California, Riverside (UCR) recently released information regarding a promising new treatment for huanglongbing (HLB) and the Asian citrus psyllid that “effectively kills the bacterium causing the disease with a naturally occurring molecule found in wild citrus relatives.” While this news has exciting potential, UCR and California Department of Food and Agriculture scientists agree that growers should continue …
Rootstock Offers High Hopes for HLB Tolerance, Maybe Resistance
The new Sugar Belle hybrid rootstock LB8-9xS13#16 has quite a history, according to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences citrus breeder Jude Grosser. “This is one of several projects I did with Orie Lee toward the end of his Florida Citrus Hall of Fame career/life,” recalls Grosser. “We did a lot of brainstorming together, and he was …
New Book on the Asian Citrus Psyllid and HLB
A book about the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and huanglongbing (HLB), edited by Jawwad Qureshi and the late Phil Stansly, was recently published by the Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI). Qureshi is an entomologist with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS); Stansly was also a UF/IFAS entomologist. The book is Asian Citrus Psyllid: …





























