Citrus Greening Disease/HLB

New Tool Seen as a Win in the Battle Against Citrus Greening

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:54:58 GMT

The EPA has approved CarriCea T1, calling it a “breakthrough citrus rootstock” that helps trees defend themselves against citrus greening disease — the bacterial infection that has destroyed more than 90% of Florida’s citrus production over the past two decades.

EPA says the approval gives American growers a powerful new tool that fights disease at the source while reducing the need for conventional pesticide sprays.

“A secure, abundant food supply keeps Americans healthy and fuels economic growth, which is why we’re using gold-standard science to put safe, innovative tools in the hands of our farmers,” says EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “CarriCea T1 helps protect American citrus, supports a nutritious food supply and lets growers rely less on conventional pesticide applications. That’s a win for farmers and a win for American families.”

Florida’s citrus industry, the center of America’s orange juice supply, continues to face extraordinary pressure. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports final 2024–25 production totaled 12.15 million boxes of oranges, 1.3 million boxes of grapefruit and 400,000 boxes of tangerines and tangelos — the smallest Florida harvest on record since the 1919–20 season. At the industry’s 2003–04 peak, Florida growers produced nearly 292 million boxes of citrus. Today’s harvest is less than 5% of that total.

Without effective new tools, citrus greening threatens to end commercial citrus production in the U.S., forcing Americans to depend on foreign growers, says the EPA.

CarriCea T1 works by making precise edits to the citrus tree’s own existing genes — not by introducing DNA from other organisms. These edits disrupt the interaction between the citrus plant and the bacteria that cause greening, helping the tree limit infection on its own.

Because the tree itself is better equipped to resist the disease, growers using CarriCea T1 rootstock can rely less on conventional chemical sprays to manage citrus greening. Fewer sprays mean less pesticide applied to the orchard, less handled by farmworkers and a safer path forward for American citrus.

EPA says it conducted a dietary safety assessment under its existing regulatory framework for plant-incorporated protectants to ensure the registration decision is protective. This includes residues from both the pesticide being registered as well as any breakdown products. The fruit produced from CarriCea T1 rootstock will be indistinguishable from those using other rootstock varieties, it says.

EPA says it recognizes Americans care deeply about how their food is grown and want clear information about the tools used in agriculture. Consumers who prefer alternatives will continue to find a wide range of choices in the marketplace, including organic citrus.

This approval gives growers another tool to manage a serious crop disease while supporting efforts to reduce losses and maintain productive citrus acreage, says the agency.

Farmers need a range of approaches to manage pests and plant diseases, including integrated strategies that protect yields while reducing unnecessary conventional pesticide use, says EPA. CarriCea T1 gives growers a new line of defense that works with the plant’s own biology rather than relying on chemicals alone.

When a crop is modified for pesticidal purposes, the modification is called a plant-incorporated protectant, or PIP. Some PIPs introduce new genes from other organisms, but CarriCea T1 takes a different approach, editing existing citrus genes to strengthen the plant’s own defenses. EPA evaluates every PIP against rigorous standards for human health, environmental protection and long-term agricultural sustainability.

EPA says it will continue working with growers, researchers and stakeholders to ensure crop protection tools are used responsibly and evaluated with full attention to safety and the long-term resilience of American farms.

More Orange County Acres added to California's HLB Quarantine

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 23:17:30 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture expanded the state’s huanglongbing, HLB, or citrus greening quarantine boundary in the San Juan Capistrano area of Orange County.

The new areas are found in grids 483 and 484 of the quarantine map.

CDFA says this boundary expansion also includes the agency’s Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine Zone 6 to reflect the new quarantine boundary.

This expansion follows additional acres in the past few months:

For specific changes to the quarantined areas in California, visit the APHIS Citrus Greening web page .

Citrus Greening Named One of Farm Journal Foundation's “Mean 16” Biosecurity Threats

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 22:45:42 GMT

A newly released report from the Farm Journal Foundation (the farmer-centered, non-profit, nonpartisan organization created by Farm Journal, which owns The Packer) details the top 16 most significant pest and disease issues that U.S. growers face. Citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing (HLB), is prominently featured among the “Current Threats.”

HLB was first confirmed in the U.S. in 2005 in Miami-Dade County, Fla. The disease is caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacterium, which the Asian citrus psyllid vectors. The psyllid was first found in the U.S. in 1998, setting the stage for the outbreak.

This graphic from the Farm Journal Foundation’s “Mean 16" report shows the drop in citrus production, which incudes oranges, grapefruit, tangerine, and lemon/lime.

(Graphic courtesy of the Farm Journal Foundation)

In the two decades since the disease arrived in the Sunshine State, orange production has dropped from 244 million 90-pound boxes in 1998 to a projected 12 million boxes for the 2024-25 season — a nearly 95% reduction.

Citrus greening has since spread to Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Arizona and California.

Florida growers have battled compounding issues like devastating hurricanes, which could move the psyllid further along in the state. Hurricane Wilma (October 2005) caused $180 million in damage; Hurricane Irma (2017) caused nearly $760 million; Hurricane Ian (September 2022) hit 375,000 acres and caused about $675 million; and Hurricane Milton impacted 166,000 acres and caused about $55 million in damage.

The Farm Journal Foundation’s “Mean 16” list calls for greater public investment in agriculture research and development. ( Read the full report here. )

No Silver Bullet

The report notes that many of the crop pests on the list lack full and effective treatments. Researchers across the globe and country seek to provide both short- and long-term solutions to this devastating disease.

Tripti Vashisth, associate professor of horticultural sciences and citrus extension specialist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), says growers must manage irrigation, nutrition, plant-growth regulators, psyllid control and antibiotic injections for trees infected with citrus greening.

“For the growers, it becomes really challenging that they have to be on top of each of these things, because once the tree has an infection, it is not as forgiving as a healthy tree,” she says. “If you miss fertilization on a healthy tree, it’s way more forgiving, because it has the reserves to run on ... but when it is sick, it needs everything all the time. It has become cumbersome for the growers, and that’s their biggest challenge — that there is no silver bullet and there are many different things that they can do.”

Citrus greening-induced fruit drop is also problematic. Vashisth says prior to developing management strategies, growers could lose 40% to 50% of their crop due to fruit drop.

“After that research, now we have better tools for controlling fruit drop, and it is quite successful,” she continues. “There are two plant growth regulators that we can use to control fruit drop, and it works. The timing is the critical part of it.”

Megan Dewdney, associate professor of plant pathology and Extension specialist with UF/IFAS, says growers have a profound “mindset change” to manage the disease.

“They also had to sort of get their heads around going from that very gentle method of plant management to a much more aggressive, and that’s a very much a mindset change,” she says. “We’re talking about at the same time as a biological problem; we’re also talking about almost a sociological issue.”

Dewdney, who has been with UF/IFAS since 2008, says that while it looked like a rapid expansion across the state, she thinks it was likely a slower progression.

“One of the huge challenges with this disease is the fact that it is within the vascular system, but the fact that it can kind of hide there for a long time in an older, healthy tree,” she says. “So, a tree can look relatively healthy for three, four, five years before it starts to really succumb. And that whole time, if you’ve got psyllids around, they’re able to feed on it and potentially pick up the pathogen and move it along. And so, it’s sort of sitting there silently.”

While short-term management is crucial for survival, the long-term solution lies in research and development, a priority reinforced by the “Mean 16” report.

Manjul Dutt, assistant professor of horticultural sciences with a focus on citrus and subtropical fruit breeding and genetics at UF/IFAS, says that thanks to modern technology fruit breeding — which used to be a 20-year process — is now closer to 10. And his main focus for the future of the industry is to develop HLB-resistant and -tolerant rootstock and varieties.

“Genetic resistance or genetic tolerance to HLB and other diseases remains the only long-term solution,” he says. “We need all those strategies to ensure that the grower is able to have a profitable crop in the short term, but the bottom line is you need to have tolerance and, if you get very lucky, resistance.”

To learn more about the University of Florida’s work on citrus greening, read “ How Florida Citrus is Fighting Back Against Greening Disease .”

How Florida Citrus is Fighting Back Against Greening Disease

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 20:43:11 GMT

It’s hard not to associate Florida citrus with the devastating citrus greening disease, also known as huanglongbing (HLB). In the 20-plus years the pathogen has been in the state, Florida’s orange production has dropped from 244 million 90-pound boxes in 1998 to 12 million boxes for the 2024-25 season.

While that nearly 95% reduction in orange production has had significant consequences, a team of researchers at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are learning more about HLB and its vector, the Asian citrus psyllid, to help growers combat the threat.

Citrus greening is a global issue, with Brazil now at the epicenter, having almost half of the country’s production impacted. The disease also runs rampant in Asia and Africa. As Tripti Vashisth, associate professor of horticultural sciences and citrus extension specialist with UF/IFAS, notes: The weather is similar to India, but growers in Florida have experienced much more significant loses.

“In my opinion, a lot has to do with the soil,” she says. “The soil in Florida, unfortunately, is sand, which has lower water-holding capacity, lower nutrient-holding capacity. But if you look in India, they have a heavy clay soil; so does China, Nepal and then even Brazil has a very-high-in-iron soil.”

Vashisth says along with soils that don’t hold moisture and nutrients, Florida growers have also faced significant damages from major hurricanes. Hurricane Wilma, which hit October 2005, shortly after greening was first detected, caused $180 million in damage; Hurricane Irma in 2017 caused nearly $760 million in damage; Hurricane Ian in September 2022 hit nearly 375,000 acres of citrus groves and caused about $675 million in damage; Hurricane Milton impacted 166,000 acres and caused about $55 million in damage.

“Once a hurricane hits, it’s just not that year, it’s [the] next couple of years that the trees are just getting back to the normal,” she says. “Milton is not isolated; we were still recovering from Ian, and it has been three hurricanes in six or seven years.”

Short-Term Solutions

As a horticulturalist, Vashisth focuses on what growers can do to help strengthen and create more resilient trees. She says growers have to manage irrigation, nutrition, plant-growth regulators, psyllid control and antibiotic injections; it’s a lot to balance.

“For the growers, it becomes really challenging that they have to be on top of each of these things, because once the tree has an infection, it is not as forgiving as a healthy tree,” she says. “If you miss fertilization on a healthy tree, it’s way more forgiving, because it has the reserves to run on ... but when it is sick, it needs everything all the time. It has become cumbersome for the growers, and that’s their biggest challenge — that there is no silver bullet and there are many different things that they can do.”

Vashisth says that when she started in 2014, it was believed that nothing could help the fruit drop associated with citrus greening, adding that growers can lose between 40% to 50% of their crop yearly due to fruit drop. However, she says she discovered growers applied plant growth regulators at the wrong time.

“After almost three years of research, we found that the signal that tells a fruit that it needs to drop arises almost three months before the actual drop happens,” she says. “So, you have to be applying those plant growth regulators three months before the physical fruit drop begins, which changes the complete scenario because most of the time people see the drop and then they want to apply, but that’s too late to apply.

“After that research, now we have better tools for controlling fruit drop, and it is quite successful,” she continues. “There are two plant growth regulators that we can use to control fruit drop, and it works. The timing is the critical part of it.”

Vashisth says she also looked into the application of gibberellic acid to help encourage leaf development in declining trees. A concern, though, is that encouraging a tree to develop leaves might take resources away from flower development and thus cause a reduction in fruit.

“We applied it, and we did see a reduction in flowering, but interestingly that doesn’t affect the yield of the tree,” she says. “In the end, we get the same amount of fruit. Basically, we reduce the number of flowers, we create more leaves. These leaves can now feed the fruit, and they have a better return.”

She says about 60% of the state’s citrus growers now use gibberellic acid.

“It’s not a silver bullet,” she says. “It’s just one more tool that can help the tree.”

Vashisth says Florida’s sandy soils make it difficult for trees to maintain the right nutrient balance. She says soil moisture levels are also critical for trees with citrus greening. She noticed the state’s dry season overlaps when valencia growers experience fruit drop, and it runs through flowering and fruit set for the next season. She says she found productivity improved by more than double when growers irrigate in small doses daily.

“Even though we are not applying more water, it’s more frequent,” Vashisth says. “The challenge here, from the grower point of view, is that I’m asking them to irrigate at least every day, even if they cannot do three times a day. I’m saying every day, and it takes human labor to turn on those pumps, get the irrigation going, and that’s a challenge.”

This is where she sees the potential for automatic systems and chemigation to help growers deploy gibberellic acid during months when growers aren’t using sprayers in November and December.

Vashisth says another challenge to research is that each citrus variety responds differently to HLB. Of the sweet orange varieties, hamlin is more susceptible than valencia. Murcott mandarins can drop up to 60% of its fruit if not managed properly. She says rootstock, too, has different responses to greening.

“Every variety has a different response, and it just depends on where they are grown,” she says. “Soil has a lot to do with how the trees respond. The same treatment at one place may result different have different results at different places.”

Vashisth decsribes her work with growers on improving tree health as a partnership, noting she’s trying to help growers manage groves with the best tools available. She says a major focus of her research going forward will be looking at abiotic stress and its impact on fruit quality.

“We are doing things that can be short-to-mid-term goals so we have something that can be adopted right away,” she says.

Manjul Dutt, assistant professor of horticultural sciences with a focus on citrus and subtropical fruit breeding and genetics at UF/IFAS, has modified grapefruit citrus embryonic callus cells, which he says are similar to human stem cells, through conventional methods or using biotechnology to develop into new citrus plants with what he hopes is resistance to huanglongbing.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

Whole System Disease

Megan Dewdney, associate professor of plant pathology and Extension specialist with UF/IFAS, says growers in Florida had been lucky up until the onset of citrus greening, as there weren’t many significant diseases or insects to manage. Going from changes in production and income to a different management technique was an adjustment, she says.

“They also had to sort of get their heads around going from that very gentle method of plant management to a much more aggressive, and that’s a very much a mindset change,” she says. “We’re talking about at the same time as a biological problem; we’re also talking about almost a sociological issue.”

Dewdney, who joined UF/IFAS in 2008, says while HLB looked like a rapid onset, she thinks it was a slower progression.

“It looked like it was explosive, but I suspect it was more of a gradual creep, but it was silent,” she says.

Dewdney says she works a lot with her entomological colleagues, as the Asian citrus psyllid is a vector of the disease. She says it’s important to understand as much about the insect and the pathogen.

“One of the huge challenges with this disease is the fact that it is within the vascular system, but the fact that it can kind of hide there for a long time in an older, healthy tree,” she says. “So, a tree can look relatively healthy for three, four, five years before it starts to really succumb. And that whole time, if you’ve got psyllids around, they’re able to feed on it and potentially pick up the pathogen and move it along. And so, it’s sort of sitting there silently.”

Dewdney says trees might not exhibit any symptoms or might just look off, so a grower might think it’s a fertilizer issue or something else other than greening. While a tree infected with HLB looks more stressed, other pathogens might cause additional issues. She says she sees more prevalence in twig dieback and stem end rot in trees infected with greening. While thought of as a postharvest disease, stem end rot now shows up in the field.

“When a weakened fruit starts to detach, it doesn’t fully detach,” she says. “Now you see these organisms going in, and you see the stem end rot on the tree instead of where you’d normally see it in the packinghouse, but that fruit is not heavy enough to drop, because it’s deficient.”

Dewdney says HLB has also complicated growers’ management of phytophthora. She says HLB-infected roots attract phytophthora zoospores. Also, systemic products for phytophthora management don’t work as well, she suspects, in part due to the tree’s weakened vascular system. Greening also affects flowering patterns, Dewdney says, noting that a branch or branches might flower early, which can allow a pathogen that causes post-bloom to build up inoculum.

“If you’re unlucky enough to have the right weather conditions at bloom, which is wet and wet and warm, you see explosive bloom, explosive disease in the field, because it’s been building up over spring on all these weakened trees,” she says. “This has the secondary effect that this disease [has], called post-bloom fruit drops. It makes the little fruitlets fall off, and then you don’t have any fruit this just before you even get to worrying about anything.”

She notes that growers often start young trees, which are very susceptible to HLB, under individual protective covers, or IPCs, which are mesh bags that protect the young citrus trees from pests. However, growers still need to be proactive with insect and disease control. An unprotected tree will die within a year, while an established citrus tree that gets infected at year eight or longer will have a slower decline.

Dewdney says that before the prevalence of citrus greening, it would take growers about seven years to get to a profitable production level.

“Now, I don’t know if it’s even if it’s that short anymore to get to profit, but the trees don’t necessarily last longer than three, four, five years,” she says. “It is a tree canopy disease because it absolutely decimates systems.”

Dewdney says she and a research team will look at trunk injections of oxytetracycline and its alternatives, as well as the optimal timing of applications for young trees.

“I don’t think we’ve seen too much that looks much better than the oxytetracycline so far,” she says. “There’s always hope that something a little less difficult to work with and less controversial.”

All the while, growers face tough decisions on whether to stay in the citrus business.

“We’re talking about family farms, businesses that have been in the families for multiple generations,” Dewdney says. “It’s just heartbreaking to watch this. I’ve had growers that are practically in tears on the phone with me, saying, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can go.’ That’s really hard to listen to. We’re not going to hang up on that poor person, because you know that they’re going through an absolute crisis.”

Manjul Dutt, assistant professor of horticultural sciences UF/IFAS, says as a citrus breeder, he and his team deploy a combination of breeding techniques developed more than 200 years ago, with modern breeding strategies such as CRISPR and AI. Here, with some genetically modified citrus rootstocks with potential HLB resistance. "“It’s an exciting time to be a plant breeder, I think so, because there’s a huge potential in actually making a significant contribution to the field, given what you’ve seen with HLB,” he says.

(Photo: Christina Herrick)

A Look Ahead

While seedless membranes and flavor are obviously important, the ultimate goal is to have HLB-resistant cultivars and rootstock, says Manjul Dutt, assistant professor of horticultural sciences with a focus on citrus and subtropical fruit breeding and genetics at UF/IFAS.

“Genetic resistance or genetic tolerance to HLB and other diseases remains the only long-term solution,” he says. “We need all those strategies to ensure that the grower is able to have a profitable crop in the short term, but the bottom line is you need to have tolerance and, if you get very lucky, resistance.”

Traditional breeding used to be a nearly 20-year process, but thanks to modern technology, Dutt says it’s closer to 10 years. A challenge to developing new cultivars is that sweet oranges and grapefruits have limited genetic diversity, which also limits genetic resistance.

In grapefruits, Dutt says he modifies citrus embryonic callus cells, which he says are similar to human stem cells, through conventional methods or using biotechnology. These then get placed in growing mediums with plant hormones to develop into new citrus plants.

“Using plant biotechnology, plant genetics, you can actually accelerate the process of hopefully trying to find that one needle in the haystack,” he says.

Wild strains could be a source of new genetic diversity, but they often have unpleasant tastes, so Dutt sees wild strains as a good source of resistant and tolerant rootstock. He says having both resistance and tolerance in the scion and the rootstock will be the best defense against citrus greening.

“We are screening large populations of seedlings to identify natural variation, because natural variation happens,” he says. “We are also using many tools to actually induce other kinds of variation, such as genome editing and the development of GMO plants.”

And he says an HLB-tolerant rootstock developed through using CRISPR could support a tolerant non-GMO sweet orange variety.

“Citrus breeding is a very slow and long-term process,” he says. “You have to use multiple strategies. We have all these different strategies, conventional breeding, GMO, CRISPR, you name it. We’re all doing that at the same time. Now it’s more work for my folks, more work for me, but there is an urgent need to get that done.”

He says his team focuses primarily on sweet oranges and grapefruits but also does a little research in mandarins.

“The first objective is for us to stabilize the industry,” he says. “Even if I have a breakthrough in a mandarin that’s not going to stabilize our industry, we need to have breakthroughs with sweet oranges with grapefruits, because that’s the bulk of our industry.”

But a happy accident did happen along the way in Dutt’s research. As his team incorporated finger limes into the research program due to its high tolerance to citrus greening, Dutt developed two red-pigmented finger lime varieties. He says, along with its promising potential for growers, he sees finger limes as a potential source for HLB-tolerant rootstocks.

Dutt says his team is also looking into the potential of finger limes in a breeding program.

“We know it has good genetic potential, but what can we do with it?” he says. “We did an experiment to see how it works as a rootstock. It worked well. Will it work well as a parent? We don’t know, and that’s too early, but we do have hybrid populations with UF SunLime as one of the parents. So, you know, science never stops.”

He says he and his research team have hundreds of trees being evaluated for tolerance and resistance to HLB, and there’s a team comparing the resistance and susceptibility of related cultivars to learn what triggers the tolerance and resistance.

“And if you can identify those differences, can we utilize those to build better citrus?” he says.

Dutt says, as a citrus breeder, he and his team deploy a combination of breeding techniques developed more than 200 years ago and modern breeding strategies such as CRISPR and artificial intelligence.

“It’s an exciting time to be a plant breeder, I think, because there’s a huge potential in actually making a significant contribution to the field, given what you’ve seen with HLB,” he says.

Unlocking New Potential With Specialty Finger Limes in Florida

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 18:53:07 GMT

As Manjul Dutt, assistant professor of horticultural sciences with a focus on citrus and subtropical fruit breeding and genetics at University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has focused on unlocking citrus breeding stock that is tolerant of resistant to the citrus green disease huanglongbing, he’s also unlocked a new potential opportunity for Florida growers.

Australian finger limes are naturally HLB-tolerant. As a post-doctoral researcher, Dutt says he crossed finger lime genetics with conventional citrus to look for the next generation of sweet orange and grapefruit cultivars resistant or tolerant to the citrus greening bacteria. And as he evaluated some of the germplasm, a citrus grower told him that there was an economic potential for new finger lime varieties.

“There is a huge need in the specialty citrus industry for finger limes,” Dutt says, noting that the grower told him, “‘I just came back from California, and I paid a lot of money to buy a dish that had the finger lime pearls in it.’ He’s like, ‘high-end restaurants, chefs, bartenders, mixologists — they all would really want the finger lime.’”

Lijun “Angelia” Chen, assistant professor in the UF Food and Resource Economics Department, says part of the appeal of finger limes is the “tiny, caviar-like pearls that pop in your mouth with a fresh citrus burst.”

Dutt says he decided to expand the breeding program to look at the economic potential of the finger lime crosses, while remaining focused on providing growers with HLB-tolerant sweet orange, grapefruit and citrus rootstock.

He conducted an informal survey on the color profile of finger limes, which range from pale to pink to deep red.

“Nine out of 10 people wanted red, so we decided to release the red ones,” Dutt says.

This specialty program has released two varieties. UF SunLime is a hybrid finger lime that produces large, cylindrical fruit. Fruits range from 2.7 inches to 3.1 inches and offer a rich red color when mature. The fruit weighs around 30.4 grams on average and has up to five seeds. UF RedLime produces narrow, longer fruit that range from 4.2 inches to 4.8 inches. Fruits weigh 28.8 grams and average four to 14 seeds.

SunLime is tolerant to HLB but susceptible to citrus scab, and RedLime is highly tolerant to HLB.

Dutt calls all this “serendipity,” as he knows that there’s even interest in growers outside of the state. Earlier this year, UF/IFAS held a finger lime field day and some Texas growers who attended saw the potential to bring UF SunLime and UF RedLime to the Dallas and Houston markets.

Unlocking the Potential

Dutt says he has worked with UF colleagues to look at the economics of consumer interest, as well as with Chen to look at the sensory attributes and with the horticulture department to look at postharvest.

Chen says her team seeks to address key barriers to a successful value chain for Florida finger limes.

“On the economic and marketing side, we’re exploring market potential from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, including growers, extension professionals, consumers, chefs and mixologists, to support informed, sustainable growth,” she says.

While there’s interest from growers, thanks in part to HLB resistance, consumer awareness and knowledge about finger limes remains low, Chen says, though food enthusiasts, connoisseurs and adventurists have shown strong interest in the specialty citrus.

“Finger limes, positioned as a specialty/luxury product (due to novelty and high price points), have gained significant attention in high-end culinary and mixology scenes,” she says. “However, the supply chain still needs development, as growers want to know who to sell to and consumers want to know where they can buy them.”

But Chen sees potential as consumers seek out creative dining and craft cocktail experiences.

“Finger limes benefit from this trend because they’re unique, eye-catching and elevate presentation and flavor,” she says. “Plus, the rise of social media and influencer marketing makes it easier than ever to showcase eye-catching dishes and drinks featuring finger limes to a wider audience.

Chen says servers, chefs and mixologists, as well as social media influencers, can help promote the use of finger limes in food and drinks, noting this can help inform consumers on how to best incorporate finger limes into their households and shape initial demand.

“In-store sampling, trade show displays and farmers market appearances can all be promising venues for continued promotion and education,” she says.

But she tempers that potential with the caution that awareness for finger limes should grow slowly and steadily to ensure finger limes’ long-term potential in the industry.

“Continued research is critical to ensure sustainable growth of this specialty citrus and avoid potential boom-bust cycles,” Chen says. “Strategic market development backed by data will help finger lime producers build long-term viability in this emerging sector.”

More Acres in Riverside County Added to California’s HLB Quarantine

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:50:43 GMT

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the California Department of Food and Agriculture have expanded the huanglongbing (HLB) and citrus greening quarantine in the state.

The expanded area adds 3 sq. miles in the Riverside area of Riverside County.

APHIS says this expansion is due to positive detections of HLB and greening in plant tissue samples collected from a residential property in Riverside. The agency says this expansion does not impact commercial citrus acres.

This expansion follows additional acres in the last few months of the Capistrano Beach area of Orange County and the Murrieta area of Riverside County , acres in Riverside County , the San Clemente area of Orange and San Diego counties , the Perris area of Riverside County and the area of Coto de Caza in Orange County, the Rancho San Margarita area of Orange County, the Perris area of Riverside County and the Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernadino areas of San Bernadino County .

For specific changes to the quarantined areas in California, visit the APHIS Citrus Greening web page .

CDFA Adds More Area in Orange, Riverside Counties to HLB Quarantine

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:56:00 GMT

The California Department of Agriculture says it has expanded the boundary of the state’s huanglongbing or HLB quarantine in Orange and Riverside counties. The state added the Capistrano Beach area of Orange County and the Murrieta area of Riverside County.

The new areas include grids 483 and 498 on the agency’s boundary map.

CDFA says this boundary expansion also includes the agency’s Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine Zone 6 to reflect the new quarantine boundary.

This follows recent quarantine expansions in the Riverside area of Riverside County , the San Clemente area of Orange and San Diego counties and the Perris area of Riverside County .

The 2025 Packer 25 — Steven Callaham

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:39:10 GMT

Editor’s note: The following profile is from the 2025 Packer 25, our annual tribute to 25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain. ( You can view all honorees here. ) This feature has been edited for length and clarity.

Steven Callaham — CEO, Dundee Citrus Growers Association

Steven Callaham has been a stalwart in the Florida citrus industry for nearly three decades. He’s served as the executive vice president and CEO of Dundee Citrus Growers Association for the last 22 years.

A University of Florida College of Agriculture graduate, he joined Dundee Citrus Growers in 1999, where he’s led one of the largest grower cooperatives in the state’s citrus industry through unprecedented challenges and innovation.

He serves as the chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association and president of Florida Classic Growers. He also serves on multiple industry boards and committees that focus on research, new variety development and grower sustainability.

What makes Florida citrus so special?

Florida citrus is unlike anything else in the world. Our state’s unique subtropical climate, with its warm temperatures, abundant sunshine, and plentiful rainfall, produces fruit with exceptional flavor and unrivaled juiciness. This distinctive taste profile has long set Florida citrus apart, making it a staple in produce departments and households across the country.

Dundee Citrus Growers has a long history in Florida agriculture. How do you balance tradition with innovation?

Reaching a century in business requires both resilience and foresight. At Dundee, we honor our cooperative roots and the trust of our grower-members while embracing bold, forward-looking innovations. Our board and management team are committed to staying ahead of the curve, from investing in groundbreaking production technologies to trialing high-value citrus crops that meet evolving market demands. This balance allows us to preserve our legacy while ensuring we remain leaders in shaping the future of Florida agriculture.

How is Dundee tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the Florida citrus industry?

We are addressing these challenges with both urgency and vision. By maintaining a strong financial position, we have the agility to invest strategically in solutions that strengthen our growers’ long-term sustainability.

This includes large-scale adoption of Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) production, where we are trialing high-value citrus varieties, such as mandarins, limes and specialty fruits, that retailers are actively seeking additional volume and alternative supply solutions for. These efforts, combined with investments in disease-resistant rootstocks and advanced grove management practices, are enabling us to mitigate the impact of greening and rebuild confidence in Florida citrus.

What innovations are you most excited about?

Our most transformative initiative is Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) technology. Dundee has been an early and large-scale adopter of this system, which protects citrus trees from greening disease while creating a controlled environment that enhances fruit quality and yield. Within CUPS, we are pioneering trials of high-value citrus crops that directly respond to unmet consumer demand, offering retailers and consumers the promise of reliable, premium-quality fruit. This innovation not only protects Florida citrus but also positions our growers at the forefront of the industry’s future.

With all the challenges facing the Florida citrus industry, how do you keep grower-members aligned and engaged when the industry is under pressure? How do you personally stay motivated?

Our grower-members remain engaged because we provide them with real opportunities to thrive, from access to cutting-edge production systems like CUPS, to cooperative marketing channels that maximize their returns. We back innovation with robust support services, ensuring our members are not only adopting new technologies but are also equipped to succeed with them.

For me personally, motivation comes from a deep passion for this industry and for Dundee’s role in shaping its future. Even in the most challenging times, we have an inspiring story of resilience and reinvention to share. Being part of writing that story fuels my drive every day.

What does the future hold for the Florida citrus industry?

The future of Florida citrus is not just bright; it is resurgent. Through innovations such as Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS), the introduction of disease-resistant trees, and advanced horticultural practices, Dundee is producing fruit with quality and consistency that surpasses anything we’ve seen before. Simply put, Dundee is back on the map with better quality than ever before.

Retailers are telling us what they need: reliable supply, consistent eating experience, and premium varieties that excite consumers. We are aligning our production directly with those demands, trialing high-value citrus crops that complement and strengthen retail citrus programs. By delivering fruit that meets today’s highest retail standards, we are not only restoring confidence in Florida citrus but creating opportunities for retailers to differentiate themselves with fresh, flavorful, Florida-grown fruit. Florida is well positioned to regain its strength as a citrus powerhouse.

The challenges are real, but so is the determination of our growers and industry leaders. Together, we are building a sustainable, market-driven future where Florida citrus once again stands as a cornerstone of produce departments and a trusted favorite of consumers worldwide.

What advice would you give to the next generation of agricultural leaders?

My advice is simple: embrace innovation, think creatively and surround yourself with smart and passionate people. Agriculture demands both vision and collaboration. The leaders who will make the biggest impact are those willing to take calculated risks, adopt new ideas, and empower others to succeed.

How Save the Citrus Project is Part of a ‘Revolutionary Moment’

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 13:04:42 GMT

In September, the Coca-Cola Co. launched the Save the Orange project, which is the first project of the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium. Coca-Cola is a founding member of this consortium, which will use artificial intelligence (AI) to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

The consortium also includes OpenAI, Analog Devices, Tata Group, SK Telecom and TWG Global, and it seeks to harness the power of generative AI for public good.

Christina Ruggiero, president of the global nutrition category at Coca-Cola, says this project is very personal to the company as it sells juice in about 140 countries. Orange juice is the top-selling juice for the Coca-Cola in almost every country in the world, except India and Pakistan, where it comes second to mango juice.

“The Coca-Cola Co. wants to be at the heart of innovation and has a very long standing relationship of working with consumers, working with trade, working with industry, working with farmers, but we want to give the products that consumers love most to them in a very accessible way in their households around the world, and for us, and certainly for the juice part of our organization that starts with the orange,” she says.

She says that citrus greening is a huge challenge globally, not just in Florida, but in Brazil, the world’s largest citrus producer. Citrus greening, or huanglongbing, now infects nearly 47% of trees in the country. She says Coca-Cola has had a long-standing relationship with growers in Florida and Brazil and says she saw a need to connect the global research together.

“We want to be the CPG company that partners with MIT to solve real-world problems,” she says. “We want to be able to have AI be in service of humanity. As we were thinking about and exploring those types of concepts and what type of partnership we would have, I flagged this as something really important that we can do. It connects not just to our business, but to our company’s purpose. The Purpose of Coca-Cola is about refreshing the world and making a difference. And for me, this was a material impact that we can make for an industry that needs our help.”

Ruggiero says Microsoft has helped develop a platform to help the Save the Orange research team share findings and understandings. Invaio Sciences, a global biotechnical company, has also joined the Save the Orange project to bring expertise in crop health.

“How can we actually come together on a platform and prioritize different research initiatives to be able to arrest and or stop citrus greening collectively, instead of everyone investing money and working on projects in different silos,” Ruggiero says. “It’s really kind of a revolutionary moment.”

And that collaborative effort is what Amy O’Shea, director and CEO of Invaio Sciences, says makes this effort unique.

“We’re trying to pull together not just industry like Fundecitrus, the premier research organization in Brazil, but also industry partners, like Invaio, where we’ve got some solutions and we have a pipeline, but we were, we acknowledge that it’s going to take a basket of tools right to solve this problem,” O’Shea says. “Having Coca-Cola being the No. 1 juice bottler in the world, standing behind this, having the scientists at MIT who have just absolutely tremendous wherewithal for scientific exploration and discovery, all come together on this — it’s a pretty exciting time.”

O’Shea says Invaio has developed an antimicrobial that’s delivered in a non-invasive insert directly into the tree’s vascular system. She says, so far, the results in Florida have been promising, with an average of 30% reduction in drop and an increase in Brix.

Project Goals

While the Save the Orange project recently hosted an official kickoff at the campus of MIT, Ruggiero says the big priority will be a visit to Brazil in November for all the principals of the project as well as the research team.

“We are moving pretty quickly from kicking off to initial projects, and within the first 45 days, we’re getting everyone out to the trees to see the information,” she says. “We’re also creating a database right now with all of the data that’s available from all of the research that’s been done over the last couple of decades. So, our call to action is to try to get everyone working on this with as much information as they need, actually in 2025 itself.”

Ruggiero says this Save the Orange project has several components. First, how to protect the tree and boost its immunity to the bacteria that cause citrus greening. Second, to learn more about the psyllids and the role the insect plays in the ecosystem. Third, understanding the bacteria that cause citrus greening, which she says has been the biggest challenge in research. And lastly, a delivery mechanism for inoculation.

O’Shea says the consortium will look at the entire growth cycle of trees to understand the best practices moving forward, whether that’s citrus under cover for the first year, to prophylactic applications in young trees and then how treatments change once the trees come to bearing age.

“We know that this is going to take a multitude of solutions. It’s not just, you know, it’s not just an antimicrobial or disease fighting,” O’Shea says. “You need to think about psyllid control. You need to think about nutrition. You need to think about biostimulants or fertilization. You need to think about gene-edited trees.”

Ruggiero says while citrus greening has been a difficult pathogen to fight, she says time is on the Save the Orange’s side, with more than 20 years of research and with the power of AI, she sees the ability to leverage technology to speed up processing the data.

“We’re really hoping that the integration of using this technology will help us to do things that, historically, we couldn’t do before, and a little bit of elevating the call to action,” she says.

Ruggiero says, too, a goal of Coca-Cola is to make sure what results come out of the Save the Orange project will be accessible to all citrus growers and not proprietary, which she says is a big part of the company’s philosophy.

“We’re really trying to make sure that we are helping the growers make a step change in their viability,” she says. “It’s really important that whatever solutions we come up with, our suite of solutions for Coca-Cola is about, it’s being open-sourced. This is for all of the farmers in the world and the growers in the world to have a better crop.”

Ruggiero says it’s hard to really put a set timeline on science, but the project will involve testing solutions in greenhouses and nursery environments before a trial with growers to assess hypotheses in citrus groves, with the goal of providing sustainable solutions.

“If somebody has something that they feel really excited about from a technology standpoint, they might have a solution; we’re really happy to learn about that as well and continue to learn and grow,” she says.

Ruggiero says while citrus greening has been devastating in Florida and Brazil, she’s quick to point out that’s not the only challenge that citrus production has faced in those areas. Hurricanes and a real estate boom have also impacted citrus production in Florida. Meanwhile, Brazilian citrus growers have also faced a changing climate that has impacted production. She hopes the Save the Citrus project will look to help stabilize the future of the citrus industry.

“A lot of it is really looking at genetic sequencing, looking at how things evolve with temperature, climate, humidity — where we have the ability to actually study trees around the world, which also is really interesting,” she says. “There’s actually three different types of psyllids that carry greening bacteria and being able to see if there’s learnings that we can pull across. I’m cautiously optimistic, but we’re certainly putting in everything we can to help it gives its best chance of success.”

California Expands HLB Quarantine

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:07:56 GMT

In recent months, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CFDA) has added additional acres to its huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine. The department has now expanded the HLB quarantine boundary in the Riverside area of Riverside County, grid 472.

CFDA states that with this extension of the quarantine boundary in the Riverside area, it also expands the Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine Zone 6 in the Riverside area of Riverside County.

Last month, CDFA extended the HLB boundary in the Perris area of Riverside County , and in April, CDFA added part of the Riverside area of Riverside County to its quarantine .

Also known as citrus greening, the disease is caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria, which the Asian citrus psyllid vectors.

How Residential HLB Mitigation Helps California Protect Commercial Citrus

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:29:44 GMT

While the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing (HLB), the disease the psyllid vectors, has been in the Golden State for more than 15 years, California Citrus Mutual President and CEO Casey Creamer says the state has done well managing the pest, which could be a major threat to the state’s commercial citrus growers.

“We’ve done a good job of keeping it out of commercial citrus, I think way better than anybody predicted at the time,” Creamer says. “We also have seen expanding HLB disease in residential backyard trees in Southern California. So, there’s been a lot of effort, a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of science goes into all of this to protect the industry.”

And protecting the industry is paramount, Creamer says, as HLB causes significant changes in the appearance and flavor of the fruit of infected trees.

“When you talk about California and the fresh market, HLB can create sort of misshapen fruit and change the taste profile,” he says. “If we had rampant HLB in California, it would drastically affect the industry, and no longer would you have the healthy, fresh citrus that we have today.”

Creamer says an HLB find in Ventura County in 2024 threatened a significant portion of commercial citrus. He says it also impacts growers that fall under that quarantine, because they then must undertake significant steps to move fruit to prevent the spread of HLB.

“Any time a commercial operation gets put into one of these quarantine areas, it is additional mitigations that have got to be applied to those growers at additional costs,” he says. “And depending on where the ranch is located and where you’re packing the fruit, there’s just an additional logistic constraint as well. Generally, HLB is not in commercial groves, but we remain vigilant.”

Creamer says this vigilance comes in the form of a trapping network throughout the state in commercial groves and residential areas, and inspectors monitor those traps frequently. If an Asian citrus psyllid is found in a trap, a lab analyzes the specimen for HLB.

“If something comes back positive, or we find traps especially near or find the psyllid near commercial groves, additional actions would be taken to ensure that any psyllids that may potentially be in that area are controlled and maintained,” he says.

Growers practice integrated pest management and scout the commercial groves, too. Creamer says inspectors also sample trees following any positive finds in traps to test for the presence of HLB, and any trees found positive with HLB are removed.

In addition, growers cover all loads of citrus to prevent the spread of the psyllid, and packinghouses also trap and scout for psyllids.

“There’s extensive mitigations to try to avoid the movement, because the psyllid doesn’t fly very far,” Creamer says. “So, if you can prevent the movement or control the movement, that significantly lessens the ability of the citrus to spread the disease from an infected area of the state that is currently in Southern California, residential backyards, to the major production areas in California.”

But residential citrus remains the highest risk for the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid and HLB. Creamer says a program that focuses on residents, led by the citrus industry in the state as well as the California Department of Food and Agriculture, has been essential to the prevention of the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid.

“The program has done an extensive job in educating homeowners about the importance of the citrus industry, how important it is to take care of your citrus tree, how to report if you suspect it may have a disease, how to work with the program when we do trapping and surveying, and when we find diseased trees, how important it is to remove that tree,” he says. “There has been an extensive partnership and extensive cooperation, and it has been a huge success.”

But he says it’s also the industry’s greatest weakness because of residential citrus trees that are so prominent in Southern California.

“There’s so many people that love citrus in Southern California,” Creamer says. “It’s part of the culture of Southern California, and people want to continue to be able to grow it in their backyards and front yards. It’s a huge challenge, and it’s going to continue to be a huge challenge moving forward. We just appreciate that partnership and hope that we can continue it and improve on it as we move forward to, not only protect the industry, but protect the cultural history of the California citrus industry.”

California’s HLB Quarantine Expands

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 18:58:47 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture says it has expanded the state’s quarantine boundary for huanglongbing (HLB) in the San Clemente area of Orange and San Diego counties.

CDFA says the agency also expands the Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine in San Clemente area of San Diego County, which reflects this updated HLB quarantine.

Also known as citrus greening or HLB, the disease is caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria, with the Asian citrus psyllid as its vector.

This follows the addition of 33 square miles in the Perris area of Riverside County in August , which included 8.84 acres of commercial citrus.

What You Need to Know About the FDA’s Proposed Minimum Brix in Orange Juice

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 21:44:23 GMT

Earlier this month, the Federal Food and Drug Administration opened a 90-day comment period for a proposed change to a more than 60-year-old Standard of Identity (SOI) for pasteurized orange juice. This SOI change would reduce the minimum required Brix from 10.5 to 10 .

Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, and Matt Joyner, CEO and executive vice president of Florida Citrus Mutual, sat down with The Packer to discuss the motivation to make this change and what it will mean for consumers.

Most importantly, Shepp and Joyner say consumers won’t notice the drop from 10.5 to 10 Brix. It’s still orange juice, just with a little less sugar.

“We’ve done numerous consumer panels,” Joyner says. “We know the consumers can’t tell the difference between that half,” he says. “All the other nutrition components other than just a shade less sugar, are the same. So, you’re still getting all the nutrients that people come to expect out of Florida orange juice, and maybe with just a touch less sugar.”

Shepp, whose organization is an executive agency of the state charged with the marketing, research and regulation of Florida citrus, points out the other health and nutritional benefits that draw consumers to orange juice remain the same and this change comes within a regulatory framework to hold all orange juice to a high standard.

“You’re still getting the original wellness drink and everything that comes along with it: potassium, vitamin C, folate, no added sugar,” she says. “What you’re going to taste coming out of the carton is not going to be significantly different. This is really a move that gets us within the right regulatory framework and helps more Florida oranges get in the carton.”

Shepp says this SOI helps hold orange juice sold in stores to a high quality.

“It’s a quality guardrail for the industry, but it’s also a neon sign that tells consumers what is in the carton, and that we’re going for the best quality,” she says. “That’s why we as an industry decided, from a consensus position, processors, growers and even the Florida Citrus Commission, that we did need to petition the FDA to get it right.”

This change, Shepp and Joyner say, came out of a strong need expressed by the Florida citrus industry, starting back in 2022. The industry advocated for the need for this update as growers battled both citrus greening and recovery from several hurricanes, which caused reductions in production. Joyner, whose organization is the state’s largest trade association representing Florida citrus growers, says this update is long overdue.

“We find ourselves having to blend higher Brix and lower Brix,” he says. “The processors in some cases even import to blend up with other higher Brix juice. Not only the higher Brix juice in Florida, which, as a result of these storms, has been a real scarce commodity because of the reduction in production, but also the need for imports. This gives relief to the processors and the growers. It enables us to take all of our oranges to the processing facility and have them utilize that without having to find and blend up to a higher arbitrary standard.”

Shepp points out the Florida citrus industry exceeded the minimum Brix of 10.5 for a long time before citrus greening took hold and the devastating hurricanes in 2017, 2022 and 2024 caused a change in production. And this change in Brix will help get more Florida-grown oranges into the blends.

“If you’re using more Florida oranges in the carton, that is a better return to growers and processors that have significant infrastructure here in Florida, and that allows for reinvestment into an industry for more recovery issues, whether that’s therapeutics or replanting trees, etc.,” she says.

And Joyner says, the most important thing for consumers to understand is this change in Brix still means consumers are bringing home a product that meets stringent quality standards.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to put a product on the shelf that we know meets consumer expectations and is a high-quality product,” he says. “This allows arcane labeling laws to not stand in the way of using this Florida commodity. From the end user perspective, it’s going to be the same juice they’ve always known and loved.”

APHIS Adds More Acres to California HLB Quarantine

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:58:41 GMT

The USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) says it has expanded the huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine in the Perris area of Riverside County by 33 square miles.

APHIS says the new area parallels the intrastate quarantine that the California Department of Food and Agriculture established earlier this month .

This latest action is in response to a positive citrus greening detection in a plant tissue sample collected from a residential property in Riverside County, according to APHIS, which reports that this quarantine includes 8.84 acres of commercial citrus.

HLB Quarantine Expands in California

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 16:06:37 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture says it has expanded the state’s huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening, quarantine boundary in the Perris area of Riverside County.

The department also announced the expansion of the Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine Zone 6 in the Perris area to reflect the HLB quarantine boundary expansion.

A map of the expanded boundary can be found on the department’s website .

FDA Proposes to Lower Minimum Brix in Pasteurized Orange Juice

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 13:59:06 GMT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has issued a proposed rule to amend a more than 60-year-old Standard of Identity (SOI) for pasteurized orange juice to promote honesty and fair dealing for consumers. FDA says the proposed rule will also provide flexibility to the food industry.

The proposed rule would reduce the minimum Brix requirement (a measurement that indicates the sugar content of a liquid), from 10.5 to 10. FDA says this reduction is in response to a citizen petition submitted by the Florida Citrus Processors Association and Florida Citrus Mutual in 2022.

The agency says it established an SOI for pasteurized orange juice in 1963 to protect the interests of consumers and reflect consumers’ expectations for orange juice. That standard set forth requirements for ingredients, manufacturing, juice content specifications and labeling, as well as the minimum Brix level.

The Florida citrus industry has been challenged by citrus greening and severe weather, which has caused the Brix level of Florida oranges to steadily decline in the past few decades. FDA says this decline makes it challenging for Florida growers to meet the minimum Brix established in the SOI, which causes some manufacturers to import high-Brix orange juice.

FDA expects lowering the minimum Brix from 10.5 to 10 is unlikely to affect the taste of orange juice and will have a minimal impact on the nutrients found in orange juice.

The agency says this proposed update to the SOI for pasteurized orange juice reflects its efforts to strategically update and modernize food standards by better aligning this standard with current agricultural norms and providing greater production flexibility, while maintaining the basic nature and essential characteristics of the product.

A 90-day comment period is open for submissions. Those interested can submit comments online .

HLB Quarantine Expands in California

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 19:38:31 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) say they have expanded the huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine in the area of Coto de Caza in Orange County by 11 square miles, the Rancho San Margarita area of Orange County by 93 square miles, the Perris area of Riverside County by 37 square miles and the Rancho Cucamonga and San Bernadino areas of San Bernadino County by 88 square miles.

APHIS said this expanded quarantine parallels the intrastate quarantine established in May in Orange and San Bernardino counties, in June in Orange County and July 1 in Riverside County.

This quarantine expansion impacts 1.44 acres of commercial citrus.

APHIS says it detected HLB in tissue samples from residential properties in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

California Expands Huanglongbing Quarantine Boundary

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:47:09 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has expanded the Huanglongbing (HLB) quarantine boundary in the Coto de Caza area of Orange County in grid 484, effective June 17.

A map of the expanded boundary can be found here .

Regulated articles and conditions for intrastate movement under the quarantine can be found at Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 3439. Pursuant to 3 CCR § 3439, any interested party or local entity may appeal a quarantine area designation.

Process to Appeal the Expanded Boundary

The department says the appeal must be submitted to the CDFA in writing and supported by clear and convincing evidence. The appeal must be filed no later than 10 working days from the date of this notification. During the pending of the appeal, the designated quarantine boundary under appeal shall remain in effect.

Appeals can be mailed to: CDFA, Citrus Division, 1220 N. Street Sacramento, Calif. 95814.

Electronic Notification of Boundary Changes
California Code of Regulation allows interested parties to be notified of quarantine area boundary changes, as well as the opportunity to submit quarantine boundary appeals. If interested in receiving notifications, please sign up for regulatory updates through the email notification at:  https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CADFA/subscriber/new

For questions regarding the regulations or map, email Raymond Niem ( Raymond.Niem@cdfa.ca.gov ) or call 916.274.6300.

California expands huanglongbing quarantine in Riverside, San Diego

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:43:35 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture expanded the huanglongbing quarantine boundary in the Riverside area of Riverside County (grid 472) and the Valley Center area of San Diego County (grid 500), effective April 22. A map of the expanded boundaries can be found online .

Also effective April 22, the department expanded the Asian Citrus Psyllid Bulk Citrus Regional Quarantine Zone 6 in the Riverside area of Riverside County and the Valley Center area of San Diego County to reflect the HLB quarantine boundary expansion. A map of the expanded boundary can be found here .

Regulated articles and conditions for intrastate movement under the quarantine can be found at Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations sections 3435 and 3439 . Pursuant to those regulations, any interested party or local entity may appeal a quarantine area designation.

The appeal must be submitted to the department in writing and supported by clear and convincing evidence. The appeal must be filed no later than 10 working days from the date of the notification. During the pending of the appeal, the designated quarantine boundary under appeal shall remain in effect.

Appeals should be mailed to: CDFA - Citrus Division, 1220 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

The California Code of Regulations allows interested parties to be notified of quarantine area boundary changes, as well as the opportunity to submit quarantine boundary appeals. Those interested can sign up online for regulatory updates via email .

Questions regarding the regulations or map can be sent to Kiana.Dao@cdfa.ca.gov or by calling 916-274-6300.

Growers see advantage to growing citrus under protective netting

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:39:14 GMT

Citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing or HLB, has been a devastating force for the Florida citrus industry, where growers have experienced production losses as high as 90% due to the disease, which is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.

But not all is lost in Florida, as brothers Jerry Mixon and Keith Mixon have invested significantly in production under exclusion netting designed to keep the Asian citrus psyllid at bay.

The Mixon brothers have chosen to grow citrus under protective screen — or CUPS — to protect the trees from the threat of citrus greening and grow sustainable and quality fruit.

“We have seen a continued increase in volume over the last three or four years. One of the things that we’ve been very pleased with is the trend upward last year. We wound up being at about 900 boxes an acre, which is kind of where the university who started all this suggested we’d be,” Jerry Mixon said.

Keith Mixon said that, aside from protecting the trees against Asian citrus psyllids coming in, the CUPS system has also helped the brothers produce better quality fruit.

“What we’re finding is that the screens prevent the wind from touching and shaking the trees at all,” Keith Mixon said. “We get really blemish-free fruit outside and inside, though, is where the real magic is. It’s more mellow than maybe you remember as a kid. This is really mellow it’s packed with all kind of great nutrition and we’re really finding that our grandkids and kids love them and we think the whole world does.”

The Mixons also showed off the newest planting of 240 acres of trees in the CUPS growing system.

“It’s a project that is a culmination of things that my brother Jerry and I have learned over the last 10 years and have really defined a new way of doing this in scale,” Keith Mixon said. "... We’re really excited about how fast these trees grow how quickly they produce and how beautiful the fruit is both outside and inside ... .”

California adds to HLB quarantine

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:28:46 GMT

Following the addition of 13.16 square miles in Mission Viejo in March , the California Department of Food and Agriculture says it has expanded the quarantine for huanglongbing, or HLB, in Mission Viejo and Foothill Ranch areas of Orange County to slow the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid.

Also known as citrus greening or HLB, the disease is caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria, with the Asian citrus psyllid as its vector.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture also recently expanded the HLB quarantine boundary in the Valley Center of San Diego County due to disease detection in two trees in residential neighborhoods .

Florida Foundation Seed Producers licenses citrus greening-tolerant varieties

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 21:59:12 GMT

Florida Foundation Seed Producers Inc. says it has signed a licensing agreement with New Varieties Development and Management Corp. to introduce a range of new, promising citrus varieties.

Florida Foundation Seed Producers said the varieties have shown improved tolerance to huanglongbing, also known as HLB, a devastating citrus greening disease.

The varieties covered by the agreement include, according to a news release:

N14-10 Hamlin — a selection noted to be tolerant to HLB with improved Brix and soluble solids.
OLL-DC-3-40 Sweet Orange — a selection noted to be tolerant to HLB with improved Brix, color and juice scores.
OLL-DC-3-36 Sweet Orange — a selection noted to be tolerant to HLB with improved Brix, color and juice scores.
C4-10-42 Mandarin Hybrid — a selection noted to be tolerant to HLB and useful for processing and blending into NFC orange juice to increase Brix and color.
RBA 13-18 Mandarin Hybrid — a selection noted to be tolerant to HLB and useful for processing and blending into NFC orange juice to increase Brix and color.
Orange 14 Rootstock — a rootstock selection noted to have performed well under HLB pressure, including an area with heavy Diaprepes/Phytophthora pressure.

Florida Foundation Seed Producers said the collaboration, which includes the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the Florida Department of Citrus aims to accelerate access to these HLB-tolerant varieties for the state’s citrus nurseries and growers.

Florida Foundation Seed Producers said it and New Varieties Development and Management Corp. have filed for patents for the six varieties, which were developed by Frederick Gmitter Jr. and Jude Grosser at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, Fla.

“Our observations, based on decades of experience with citrus trees and HLB, indicate that these selections are very promising and worthy of trialing in commercial groves,” Gmitter, a UF professor of citrus breeding and genetics, said in the release. “We’d like more supporting data on their performance, but we weigh that desire against the urgency felt by growers for options now. At this time, these are among our best hopes to meet industry needs.”

HLB quarantine expands in California

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:00:43 GMT

The California Department of Food and Agriculture recently expanded the Huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening, quarantine boundary in the Valley Center of San Diego County due to the detection in two trees in residential neighborhoods.

The new quarantine area will expand the existing Valley Center quarantine boundaries further into Pala and Pauma Valley.

According to the County of San Diego’s Agriculture, Weights and Measurements department, HLB quarantines are still ongoing in parts of San Diego County in Oceanside, Rancho Bernardo and Fallbrook, in addition to parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, where more than 8,600 trees have tested positive for the disease and been removed since 2012.

HLB is caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria and spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.

The CDFA also expanded its Asian citrus psyllid bulk citrus regional quarantine to reflect the HLB boundary expansion.

New study seeks to assess consumer acceptance of citrus gene editing

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:11:04 GMT

As the Florida citrus industry continues its fight against the deadly citrus greening disease, scientists are exploring genetic editing and CRISPR technology as potential solutions.

But while biotechnologies show promise in battling citrus greening, there’s another battle — in the court of consumer perception of gene editing — that must be won first.

Bachir Kassas, an assistant professor of food and resource economics at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has been conducting ongoing research to assess consumer acceptance of CRISPR biotechnology and genetic modification.

While CRISPR and genetic modification are both types of gene editing, there are key differences in the biotechnology, says Kassas. CRISPR allows scientists to modify DNA by cutting sections of the genetic code to remove, add or alter genes with the goal, in this case, to make citrus trees more disease-resistant or improve the taste of fruit. Whereas in genetic modification, scientists can modify crops and other organisms by taking genes from one species and inserting them into another to achieve similar goals.

As a behavioral economist, Kassas studies consumer behavior — with a specific emphasis on consumer preferences for products and product labeling, health-related decisions and social behaviors — to help explain and even predict consumer decisions.

In 2021, he conducted USDA-funded focus groups in New York City and Jacksonville, Fla., to assess consumer awareness and acceptance of gene editing.

Through these focus groups, “we learned that everybody knew what GMO was and everybody had negative impressions about GMO,” Kassas said. “The consumers in the focus group thought GMOs were driven by profit and there was no benefit to the consumer.”

They also learned that consumers don’t know the difference between gene editing and genetic modification.

“Nobody knew that CRISPR even existed as a technology for gene editing,” he said. “They all thought it was something in their refrigerator. So, in those focus groups, we also had them watch an animated video that explained the difference between GMO and CRISPR in a simplified way.

“Surprisingly, even after watching the video, more than 80% of the participants in those focus groups still did not know the difference between CRISPR and GMO,” Kassas said.

UF/IFAS also conducted three nationally representative online surveys of approximately 2,000 people per survey to assess behavioral factors like perception, attitudes, valuations, acceptance and willingness to buy orange juice made from CRISPR-edited and genetically modified citrus.

“Interestingly, GMO was discounted almost twice as much as CRISPR,” Kassas said. “If I remember correctly, the discount for GMO was around $3 and the discount for CRISPR was around $1.50 per carton of orange juice. So, this also gave us hope that CRISPR might fare better in the marketplace than GMO.”

Florida citrus in crisis

Florida has been struggling with citrus greening since 2005, when it was first discovered. “It spreads through groves like wildfire,” said Kassas, reducing the quality of the fruit, reducing yields and eventually killing the plant.

In 2022, the USDA estimated that citrus greening disease — also known as huanglongbing or HLB — had reduced Florida citrus production by 75% and more than doubled production costs. Multiple hurricanes have further hindered production.

“Florida was the flagship state for citrus, and it’s not anymore because of its struggle with [citrus greening] for two decades,” Kassas said. “Now, the entire industry is at stake. If a solution is not provided soon, the entire industry is at risk of shutting down.”

Consumer acceptance is critical

While scientists see CRISPR technology and genetic modification as possible solutions to Florida’s citrus industry crisis, educating consumers will be critical to success in the marketplace.

“CRISPR and GMO are very promising approaches to hopefully resolve the citrus greening issue and breed either tolerance or hopefully resistance,” Kassas said. “[But] for that to be a viable solution though, the marketing side is equally important.

“It’s one thing to develop the varieties that will help you circumvent citrus greening, but if people will not buy these varieties, then we didn’t really solve the problem [in a way that will allow] stakeholders to still sell their produce,” he continued. “So, for us to have a viable solution, we need to be able to market it. We need to make sure that it’s profitable for the stakeholders.”

Kassas says the university’s previous research further found that certain kinds of messaging were effective in increasing acceptance for CRISPR. Specifically, positively framed information was more effective than when it was negatively framed.

“Efficient educational and marketing campaigns are critical to the successful commercialization of CRISPR food products, especially given the resistance genetically modified foods have faced in the market,” he said.

Next up: Neuromarketing

This summer, Kassas and his team are planning to conduct a neuromarketing experiment in Gainesville, Fla., the results of which will inform messaging around CRISPR and GMOs with the goal of improving consumer perception and acceptance of biotechnology.

“The idea is to test different formats of informational message to see what the most effective way is of communicating with consumers to improve acceptance and increase willingness to pay for products made from gene edited citrus,” Kassas said.

Through previous work, Kassas and team have found that a positive lens works best, highlighting CRISPR’s benefits to fighting world hunger, increasing fruit quality and production, and so on. The researchers also found that providing additional information on gene editing and debunking myths were helpful in reaching consumers.

The Gainesville experiment will tackle this study from a neuroeconomics perspective or approach, says Kassas. “We want to see how people consume information, how that information manifests in the brain and then how it would be translated into decisions and preferences later.

“We’re looking at different ways to communicate with people, and we’re looking at what is the most effective way to help them understand how useful this technology might be for the economy, for sustainability, even for them to get the products that meet their demands and preferences,” he added.

Without consumer buy-in, it may not matter how effective gene editing is in the fight against citrus greening.

“For us to have a viable solution, we need to be able to market it,” Kassas said. “We need to make sure that it’s profitable for the stakeholders. That’s how important it is to raise awareness and hopefully improve acceptance.”

APHIS expands HLB quarantine in California

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 21:09:34 GMT

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, has expanded the quarantine area in California for huanglongbing, also known as citrus greening or HLB, caused by the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria and spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.

The quarantine expands the area in Mission Viejo area of Orange County by 13.16 square miles. APHIS said it added this area due to citrus greening detections in plant tissue samples collected from residential properties in Orange County.

APHIS said no commercial citrus acreage is impacted by this quarantine expansion.

Organic research to combat citrus greening gets $2M in USDA funds

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 20:43:00 GMT

Since the first detection in Florida in 2005, huanglongbing, also known as HLB or citrus greening disease, has forever altered the citrus industry. Efforts to slow the spread and treat infected trees have been met with mixed results and continue to challenge citrus growers.

Meanwhile, the organic citrus industry continues to enjoy steady growth. A $90 million industry, sales grew by double digits in 2021, according to The Organic Center. The combined effect of decreased supply and increased demand has resulted in soaring organic citrus prices in the grocery aisle.

In Nov. 2021, looking for effective strategies to better control the disease, the USDA issued emergency funding to research possible solutions. The USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture invested nearly $11 million in emergency funding research how to better combat HLB in the three major U.S. citrus growing regions – Florida, California and Texas. These research funds cover a wide range of approaches to stop and slow the spread of HLB, such as studying possible solutions to slow transmission inside the insect host all the way to treating HLB-infected trees.

A year later, research expands to include organic. On Nov. 18, 2022, the USDA’s flagship organic research program, Organic Agriculture and Research Extension Initiative, awarded over $2 million in funding to a team of scientists from the University of Florida, Texas A&M University and The Organic Center.

The team of researchers will focus on a 4-year project to provide organic citrus growers critical tools to reduce and manage the spread of citrus greening in their groves, with hopes that findings will have broad application for both conventional and organic growers.

“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,” said Dr. Quereshi, associate professor of entomology at University of Florida and lead researcher on the project. “This will help reduce the spread and severity of the HLB in the regions where this disease is present.”

Organic strategies could help all growers

Non-profit educational and research organization, The Organic Center, received a sub-award of $114,630 to conduct national outreach and education efforts related to the 4-year research grant. The Packer met with The Organic Center’s Director of Science Programs, Dr. Amber Sciligo, to learn more about what this grant award means for organic citrus research.

“It would be great if we could produce the knowledge that’s needed to give farmers more tools to fight citrus greening in the organic industry,” Sciligo told The Packer. “Beyond that, I’m hoping we can come up with organic strategies, or even less chemical-focused strategies, for all citrus growers.”

Since 2005, the battle to loosen the grip of HLB has, largely, not been successful. Sciligo hopes that funding organic research to the study system-based approaches to combat citrus greening will contribute to larger industry goals to curb the toll the disease has taken on citrus groves throughout the U.S.

Related news: Global fight rages against HLB

In conversations with grower groups, Sciligo said that farmers have attested that tools that were once working are no longer as effective. While conventional farmers might not be as knowledgeable about whole system approaches or ecosystem functions, like organic farmers, she said, both organic and conventional growers are looking for solutions that will work.

Specific organic methods and practices that the team of University of Florida and Texas A&M researchers will investigate include a wide range of organic strategies.

“I’m excited that this group is going to be able to combine methods like using plastic mulch and natural predation of the pest that transmits the disease using biological sprays. We’re also going to check out the possibility of incorporating netting,” said Sciligo. “There will be some evaluation of a systems approach, which is exciting. [The project group is] including farmers and doing surveys to really make sure that what they’re doing is applicable and relevant. And they’re even taking it a step further to analyze these approaches economically.

“Because it’s all well and good if we can come up with a magic formula, but if it’s not something that farmers can implement, logistically or monetarily, then it’s never gonna go anywhere,” added Sciligo.

Expanding citrus greening research to organic

The $2 million-plus grant awarded to organic research marks a clear break from previous grants from NIFA’s emergency funding, which did not include research into organic systems.

“This is exciting, because that means a quarter of the funding is going to organic research right now,” said Sciligo. “In the past, organic has not been a part of this funding.”

“I’m heartened by some of the grants coming up,” Sciligo added. “Sometimes you just need that initial investment for people to feel like it’s worthwhile to also invest.”

In past funding rounds, Sciligo says the research has been siloed into either citrus greening or organic agriculture with no overlap. This separation of research has caused barriers to funding research for organic solutions to citrus greening.

“Organic farmers try to tap into funding for citrus greening, and they say ‘no, organic has its own funding,’” said Sciligo. “But then the same farmers go to get organic funding and organic [funders] are like ‘no citrus greening has its own kind of funding.’ So, this grant is finally marrying these two worlds and it’d be great if they could stay married.”

After two rough seasons, Texas citrus is coming back strong

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 14:36:41 GMT

The sunny Rio Grande Valley on the border of Texas and Mexico might not be the first place that comes to mind when imagining endless acres of citrus orchards, but growers in this subtropical region of South Texas are working hard to change that perception.

“Texas truly does produce a unique citrus crop. Our grapefruit is surprisingly sweet, and our oranges are incredibly sweet, often registering a brix/acid ratio around 30,” said April Flowers, marketing director at Lone Star Citrus Growers, a family-owned, conventional grapefruit and orange packing shed based in Mission, Texas.

On the heels of two disappointing years, Texas citrus is punching above its weight this winter, and Dale Murden, president and grower at Texas Citrus Mutual, is excited to be back.

“It gets in your blood, and you can’t get enough. There’s just something about growing a great crop of grapefruit or oranges that gives you a satisfaction hard to explain to most people,” Murden told The Packer.

Boasting a 40-year career growing citrus in the Lone Star State, Murden has seen Texas citrus develop into the industry it is today. Starting in the citrus industry right out of high school as an IPM scout for the local extension office, Murden now represents the Texas Citrus Mutual organization and its affiliated companies.

Market Outlook

In the 2022-23 season, growers are excited to return with a strong harvest after two years stymied by extreme weather. “After a couple of hard years resulting from the hurricane and the freeze, we are excited to get back to doing what we love,” Flowers said. “We are pleased with our crop for this season, and we hope to be back up to 80% of a normal crop for the 2023-24 season.”

“The markets seem to indicate consumers are glad we are back on the shelves following the hurricane in 2020 and freeze in 2021,” Murden said.

All in all, the 2022-23 Texas citrus market “is strong, and the quality is great,” according to Murden. What’s more, he hopes that “somehow we begin to see some relief in the high costs of our inputs, and we get those rains to replenish the lakes.”

Hurricane Ian in Florida and the megadrought affecting Arizona and California citrus crops have benefited Texas growers. “The gap in supplies has shifted attention back to the Texas crop as buyers look to fill space on their shelves,” said Flowers, of Lone Star Citrus Growers.

“We are currently in a very strong market,” she added. “California grapefruit finished early, and the hurricane in Florida has driven prices higher. Additionally, the reinstatement of the juice standard for Mexican imports will help to maintain a healthy and stable market.”

Murden of Texas Citrus Mutual agrees. “Any disaster in another area always affects the competing regions, usually in a positive way. Supply and demand,” he said. “I personally quit growing navel oranges here years ago in favor of grapefruit, but I remember the only time I seemed to make any money with the crop was when California would freeze. Sad it’s that way, and we don’t wish disaster on any of our neighbors. We need a strong domestic supply and industry the consumers believe in and count on.”

Despite strong market demand, Murden sees “lingering drought and labor shortages dramatically increasing input costs” as continued challenges to the industry this season.

Flowers perceives challenges in the upcoming season similarly. “The rising cost of labor, raw materials and energy are narrowing margins and affecting pricing,” she said.

Persistent drought conditions

“We’ve been in a drought situation here for the last two years,” Murden said. “Fortunately, citrus growers think long term and not short term and will buy up ‘extra’ water when it becomes available. Nevertheless, we need rains in the water shed to fill the reservoirs.”

Lone Star Citrus Growers receives its water from reservoirs from the Rio Grande River. According to Flowers, “these water sources have seen historic lows over the past two years” and has led to conservation measures over the summer months, including negative water allocations for agriculture and tightening of municipal water restrictions.

Despite these lows, Flowers is optimistic. “September and October are historically our rainy months, and while we did not see much rain in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, the West Texas water shed did receive appreciable amounts, helping to restore Lake Amistad by about 20 feet,” she said. “Lake Amistad continues to rise a couple inches a day, which is very encouraging. While it is true that Falcon Lake remains very low, we have more water right now than we did at this time in 2020, allowing negative allocations to be replaced in mid-October. We certainly need more rain, but Lake Amistad is currently around 46% capacity, as of Nov. 4, 2022, which has moved us out of the danger zone for now.”

Pests and disease

When it comes to pests and disease, no news is good news and Texas growers anticipate a relatively quiet year when it comes to common pests.

“[This year is] like any other year really,” Murden said. “No quarantine issues with the Mexican Fruit Fly. Both [the] industry and USDA have done a good job with the program.”

Huanglongbing — also known as HLB or citrus greening — continues to be an ongoing concern that growers will troubleshoot, according to Murden. That said, Texas citrus growers have not seen a drop in production because of this disease this year. “Growers here learned a lot from our Florida counterparts and immediately began ACP treatments and tree health improvements when we first discovered it here in 2012,” he said.

“We are fortunate that we have not struggled with HLB like other growing regions have,” Flowers agreed. “Additionally, this past summer was hot and dry, which always helps keep pests under control.”

“I must say that the last three years have provided every manner of challenge including a pandemic, a hurricane, a freeze and now a drought,” Flowers added. “However, this has only highlighted the resilience of the Texas citrus grower and the incredible team we have at Lone Star Citrus Growers.”