As part of a $20.1 million federal grant for research on citrus greening, scientists at the University of Florida have received $6.7 million.
USDA awarded the grants to universities for research and Extension projects to help citrus producers fight the disease. This funding is available through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative’s Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program, which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and is administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
UF/IFAS researchers are working to defeat citrus greening on a number of fronts, including trying to suppress the psyllid, breeding citrus rootstock that shows better greening tolerance and testing chemical treatments that could be used on trees.
This year’s grants were broken into two disbursements: $2.8 million and $3,999,508.
The $3.999 million will focus on growing the bacterium in laboratories. It is something scientists have not been able to do thus far and is hampering research efforts. Another project at the University of Florida will develop bactericides to reduce transmission and eliminate infections in existing trees.