The Citrus Research Board released the 2020-2021 Request for Proposals (RFP) on February 14, 2020 for scientific research projects that address the needs of California citrus growers. Key priorities for the organization this year include research efforts to provide both short- and long-term solutions to huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening), research that addresses water and labor needs and securing adequate data to support trade activities and deal with barriers to citrus exports.
 

Proposals will be accepted through March 13, 2020.

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UC Riverside and Citrus Research Board Invite You to 

UC Riverside Citrus Day for the Industry

Please join us for the 9th Annual Citrus Field Day designed for
citrus growers and citrus industry representatives.

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For more information regarding the program call: (951) 827-5906
For more information regarding the registration or sponsorships call: (559) 738-0246

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REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED

The Citrus Research Board (CRB) welcomes all industry personnel to participate in the upcoming Citrus Growers Educational Seminar Series, co-produced by the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE). Three different meeting dates and locations will give growers from different regions the opportunity to attend and receive regional updates from the industry. The CRB will host a luncheon at all three locations to celebrate the organization’s 50th anniversary.

Continuing Education Units Available:
Continuing Education (CE) Units have been applied for through the California
Department of Pesticide Regulation for license categories
PCA, QAL, QAC and Private Applicators. 
Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Units have also been applied for and are pending approval.

April 24-25, 2019 | Santa Barbara, California

The 40^th Annual Citrus Post-harvest Pest Control Conference held on April 24-25 in Santa Barbara, California brought together over 70 researchers, industry personnel and service company representatives to learn about the latest updates in post-harvest disease control, export requirements and food safety. Technical presentations were given during the first day and a half of the conference and several CRB-funded researchers including Spencer Walse, Ph.D., Sandipa Gautam, Ph.D., Chang-Lin Xiao, Ph.D. and Jim Adaskaveg, Ph.D. were invited to present their latest work. On the afternoon of April 25, a citrus industry food safety forum, led by Mr. Ted Batkin, was held to allow conference attendees the opportunity to openly discuss food safety issues important to the industry including molecular detection technologies, consistent auditing processes and standardized industry practices.

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For more information, contact:

Carolina Evangelo

559.738.0246

carolina@citrusresearch.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Citrus Research Board and UC create a $1 million endowment for citrus research

VISALIA, CALIF. – October 22, 2018 – The Citrus Research Board and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources have established a $1 million endowment to fund the Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection at the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center. The endowed researcher will provide a UC Cooperative Extension scientist a dedicated source of funds to support scholarly activities focused on the long-term sustainability of the citrus industry.

“I wish to thank the Citrus Research Board for establishing the Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection at LREC endowment,” said UC ANR vice president Glenda Humiston. “This gift, coupled with the $500,000 match from the UC Office of the President, will help to ensure the long-term success of exemplary research focused on the California citrus industry.”

UC President Janet Napolitano provided half the funds for the endowed researcher; the CRB donated the other half.

“We are gratified that President Napolitano has selected the CRB for this prestigious match program,” said CRB Chairman Dan Dreyer. “It will be invaluable in helping us to pursue critical research that will yield beneficial findings to support the sustainability of the California citrus industry.”

The new endowment supports the UC Citrus Clonal Protection Program, which distributes pathogen-tested, true-to-type citrus budwood to nurseries, farmers and the public to propagate citrus trees for commercial and personal use. The CCPP maintains blocks of trees that serve as the primary source of budwood for all important fruit and rootstock varieties for California’s citrus industry and researchers.

The CCPP is a cooperative program between UC ANR, CRB, the California Citrus Nursery Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. CCPP director Georgios Vidalakis, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in plant pathology at UC Riverside, shared his appreciation for the efforts that led to the creation of the new endowed researcher position.

“My thanks to the citrus growers for their decades-long support, especially the members of the CCPP committee of the CRB for their vision, and UC’s Greg Gibbs for coordinating all of the efforts,” he said. Vidalakis also praised Lindcove director Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell “for making the case to our growers about the importance of this endowment and for making plans to house the UC ANR endowment at the LREC.”

A selection committee will award the endowment to a distinguished UC ANR academic. An annual payout will be used to provide salary, graduate student and/or program support. The researcher will be named for a five-year term. At the end of that period, the appointment will be reviewed and either renewed or taken back to a selection committee to choose another UC ANR academic.

“I would like to thank the CRB for this generous gift and their continued support of our research for CCPP at the LREC,” said UC ANR Director of Major Gifts Greg Gibbs.

The CRB administers the California Citrus Research Program, the grower-funded and grower-directed program established in 1968 under the California Marketing Act as the mechanism enabling the state’s citrus producers to sponsor and support needed research. More information about the Citrus Research Board may be found at www.citrusresearch.org.

The Presidential Researcher for Sustainable Citrus Clonal Protection is the fifth $1 million UC ANR endowment to support California agriculture. The other endowments are:

• UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Tree Nut Genetics, formed with the California Pistachio Board in October 2015
• UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Tree Nut Soil Science and Plant Water Relations, formed with the California Pistachio Board in October 2015
• UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for California Grown Rice, formed with the California Rice Research Board in September 2016
• UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for Agricultural Education in Orange County, formed with the Orange County Farm Bureau in October 2017

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The Citrus Research Board presented the $500,000 endowment to the University of California on October 10, 2018 at the 2018 California Citrus Conference. Pictured are (left to right): Dan Dreyer, Chairman, Citrus Research Board; Beth Grafton-Cardwell, Ph.D., Director of Lindcove Research and Extension Center and Research Entomologist, University of California, Riverside; Tu Tran, Associate Vice President, Business Operations, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Greg Gibbs, Director of Major Gifts, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Georgios Vidalakis, Ph.D., Professor and UC Extension Specialist in Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside and Director, Citrus Clonal Protection Program.

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On August 7-8, 2018, twenty-one federal and state citrus research funding agency representatives met at the USDA Agriculture Research Service Horticulture Laboratory in Fort Pierce, Florida to discuss the recommendation made by the 2018 National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) study on HLB research for all the HLB research funding agencies “to develop a fresh systems approach to HLB research prioritization and strategic distribution of resources for research leading to effective HLB management.”

The meeting opened with presentations by Dr. Tom Bewick, National Program Leader, USDA NIFA, Dr. Jacqueline Fletcher, Regents Professor Emerita, Oklahoma State University and chairman of the NASEM HLB Research committee and Dr. Jeff Gwyn, Program Director of the International Wheat Yield Partnership. Each of these presenters made the case for a coordinated funding model for HLB research. Dr. Fletcher, in particular, amplified the recommendations that the NASEM committee put forth, calling for greater coordination among the state and federal agencies funding HLB research.

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