Organic Citrus Growers Set To Get Help In Fight Against Deadly Disease
December 5, 2022 Since its discovery in Florida in 2005, citrus greening has threatened the citrus industry on a massive scale, and has posed especially unique challenges for organic citrus growers. Now a new grant from the USDA’s Organic Agriculture and Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) will advance critical research to target solutions for organic producers to fight the disease.
The grant awards $2,032,887 to a team of scientists from the University of Florida, Texas A&M University, and The Organic Center led by Dr. Jawwad Qureshi, Associate Professor of Entomology at the University of Florida, for a 4-year project. The team will be focused on providing organic citrus growers nationwide with vital tools to reduce and manage the spreading of citrus greening (aka, HLB) in their groves. The Organic Center, the independent non-profit educational and research organization operating under the administrative auspices of the Organic Trade Association, received a subaward of $114,630 to conduct national level outreach and education efforts.
“The studies will provide tools to manage the spread of HLB and the insect that spreads the disease on organic farms and to integrate into the conventional and area-wide management programs,” Quereshi says. “This will help reduce the spread and severity of the HLB in the regions where this disease is present.”
Without any one solution, conventional citrus growers have been looking toward organic producers to learn a more holistic approach that builds resilience in the plants by building soil and overall ecosystem function.
America’s organic citrus sector is a $90 million industry, and despite the challenges of citrus greening, has grown steadily.
Laying the groundwork for the recent grant was an award in 2019 to the University of Florida and The Organic Center to assess research priorities for organic citrus growers combating the disease. For that project, University of Florida researchers analyzed data collected in a survey of organic citrus growers conducted by TOC to quantify current practices and research needs and TOC also conducted a webinar on the disease to spread consumer awareness, and published a grower guide for citrus producers. The Organic Center also organized a stakeholder workshop for organic growers and researchers to collaboratively develop a this funded OREI research proposal that would address top priority research needs.
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