Funding-USDA
Announces $22 Million Available for Research to Combat Citrus Greening; May 16,
2016
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View this release on the NIFA
website. USDA Announces $22 Million Available
for Research to Combat Citrus Greening WASHINGTON, April 21, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
today announced the availability of $22 million in grants to help citrus
producers fight Huanglongbing (HLB), commonly known
as citrus greening disease. This funding is available through the
Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Citrus Disease Research and
Extension Program (CDRE), which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and is
administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). “Since 2009, USDA has committed significant resources to manage, research
and eradicate the citrus greening disease that threatens citrus production in
the United States and other nations,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“Thanks to the continued, coordinated efforts between growers, researchers,
and state and federal government, we are getting closer every day to ending
this threat. The funding announced today will help us continue to preserve
thousands of jobs for citrus producers and workers, along with significant
revenue from citrus sales.” USDA has invested more than $380 million to address citrus greening
between fiscal years 2009 and 2015, including $43.6 million through the SCRI
CDRE program since 2015. HLB was initially detected in Florida in 2005 and has since affected all
of Florida's citrus-producing areas. A total of 15 U.S. states or territories
are under full or partial quarantine due to the detected presence of the
Asian citrus psyllid, a vector for HLB. Those states include Alabama,
American Samoa, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, South
Carolina, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. USDA has employed both short-term and longer-term strategies to combat
citrus greening. Secretary Vilsack announced a Multi-Agency Coordination
framework in December 2013 to foster cooperation and coordination across
federal and state agencies and industry to deliver near-term tools to citrus
growers to combat Huanglongbing. The Huanglongbing MAC Group includes representatives from the
USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA NIFA, USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service, Environmental Protection Agency, State
Departments of Agriculture from California, Florida, Texas and Arizona, and
the citrus industry. The HLB MAC group is charged with quickly putting practical tools and
solutions into the hands of producers, allowing them to remain economically
productive while longer term solutions continue to be developed. The Group
invested $20 million into more than 30 projects over the past two years. The
funding supports projects by universities, private industry, state and
federal partners. Today, growers are benefiting from the use of
thermotherapy, soil acidification, biocontrol and other tools funded through
the first round of HLB MAC investment. The HLB MAC Group is now considering
the best use of an additional appropriation from 2016 of more than $5 million
and more information on the HLB MAC Group’s work can be found here. Last year, the University of Florida and Washington State University
received NIFA support for research on growing the putative pathogenic
bacterium in artificial culture, which will greatly facilitate research
efforts to manage HLB. Another project at the University of Florida will
develop bactericides to reduce or eliminate pathogen populations in citrus
trees, with the goal of recovering fruit production in orchards affected with
HLB. Research at the University of California will use virulence
proteins from the pathogen to detect its presence before symptoms appear and
to develop strategies for creating citrus rootstocks that are immune to HLB.
Information about all of the projects funded to date can be found online. NIFA will give priority to CDRE grants projects that are multistate,
multi-institutional, or trans-disciplinary and include clearly defined ways
to communicate results to producers. Successful applicants will be expected
to engage stakeholders to ensure solutions are commercially feasible.
Projects should also include an economic analysis of the costs associated
with proposed solutions. Based on consultation with the Citrus Disease
Sub-committee of the National Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and
Economics Advisory Board (NAREEE), only applications that deal with the HLB
or its management will be considered. Pre-applications that include a Stakeholder Relevance Statement are
due on May 16. Applicants
who are invited to submit full applications based on an industry relevancy
review of the pre-applications will be required to submit full applications
by Aug. 18. See the request
for applications on the NIFA website for more
information. USDA works every day to strengthen and support American agriculture, an
industry that supports one in 11 American jobs, provides American consumers
with more than 80 percent of the food we consume, ensures that Americans
spend less of their paychecks at the grocery store than most people in other
countries, and supports markets for homegrown renewable energy and materials.
Since 2009, NIFA has invested in and advanced innovative and transformative
initiatives to solve societal challenges and ensure the long-term viability
of agriculture. NIFA’s integrated research, education, and extension
programs, supporting the best and brightest scientists and extension
personnel, have resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that
are combating childhood obesity, improving and sustaining rural economic
growth, addressing water availability issues, increasing food production,
finding new sources of energy, mitigating climate variability, and ensuring
food safety. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science,
visitwww.nifa.usda.gov/impacts,
sign up for email
updates, or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA,#NIFAimpacts. # USDA is an equal opportunity
provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA,
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Civil Rights,1400 Independence
Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call
toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English)
or (800) 877-8339 (TDD)
or (866) 377-8642 (English
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