Research Projects Aiming to Tackle Citrus Greening Get Big Backing

After more than two decades of hope and frustration, the fight against citrus greening (aka, HLB) continues in earnest. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has invested nearly $23 million in 14 research projects as part of its Emergency Citrus Disease Research & Extension (ECDRE) program.

The program aims to bring the nation’s top scientists together with citrus industry stakeholders to find solutions that combat and prevent citrus greening (HLB) at the farm-level.

According to NIFA, this year’s awards include one coordinated project utilizing gene-editing technologies to speed up the development of non-transgenic HLB-tolerant citrus varieties.

Other awarded grants will focus on improving ongoing oxytetracycline injection treatments in HLB infected citrus, investigating therapeutics and their delivery into the citrus phloem, development of novel Asian citrus psyllid insecticides, and molecular characterization of HLB susceptibility genes, among others.

The following institutions received awards from NIFA:

• University of Florida (8 different projects)
• University of California
• University of Georgia Research Foundation
• Soil Culture Solutions, Tampa, FL
• Texas A&M AgriLife Research
• University of Wisconsin System
• USDA-ARS, Genetics and Precision Agriculture Unit, MS

To explore the funded projects in detail, click here.