Everett Griner explains just what is going on with the world-wide wine consumption.
Today Everett Griner explains just how more help is needed from everybody.
Citrus Expo 2009 planning is well underway. The event is scheduled for Lee Civic Center near Ft Myers August 19 & 20, 2009. Here is a rundown of some of the latest developments and some links to key information growers and industry vendors need to know.
Pre-registration is now open on line. CLICK HERE to pre-register, and remember, pre-registered growers are entered in a drawing to win a very nice John Deere gun safe sponsored by Everglades Farm Equipment!
Citrus Expo Seminar Topics have been released, exact presentation times and speakers yet to come.
Citrus Expo Trade Show Exhibit Spaces - Only a few remain. To find exhibitor information, see the floor plan, and learn about vendor sponsorship opportunities CLICK HERE!
Check out Citrus Expo’s new lodging and entertainment possibilities for overnight guests!
Keep up with all Citrus Expo program developments. Visit the CITRUS EXPO HOME PAGE anytime!
The rest of the group on the recent citrus tour to Brazil returned mid week. In this report, comments from University of Florida multi-county citrus extension agent Steve Futch (photo right), about some of what is being learned both in Brazil and Florida about HLB grove surveys. This report also includes a short comment from Lake Placid grower John Smoak who attended most of the trip.
In this series of reports from Ernie Neff, University of Florida geneticist and plant breeder Fred Gmitter tells about seeing healthy blocks of citrus in China surrounded by HLB (greening)-infected groves. He describes how some Chinese successfully manage HLB with timely psyllid control, high density plantings and good tree nutrition. There are discussions of how the China findings might apply to Florida. In the last report, Gmitter says his China experience turned him from a pessimist into an optimist about the future of the citrus industry.
John Smoak (in photo) and the other Florida growers participating in last week’s citrus industry tour to Brazil are back in Florida. But before leaving Brazil, Smoak offered the comments in this report about a five year old block of citrus that will soon be destroyed and replaced with sugar cane. We were told owners loved the young trees so much they delayed any action against the spread of HLB and now it is 100 percent infected.
We’ll have more reports to come later this week but I am still in Brazil and internet access will be challenging in coming days. A couple of us remaining are attending the “Citrus Week” trade show and seminars program taking place this week here in Brazil. In case you missed the previous report from this trip, CLICK HERE and check it out.
Stay Tuned, Gary Cooper, Southeast AgNet
Our small group from Florida is getting great access to groves, growers, citrus greenhouse nurseries, and government & industry officials on this week’s tour of Brazilian citrus. In the first report, an overview of the trip including mention of a new law in Brazil requiring growers to remove entire groves once HLB incidence in a grove reaches 28%.
In the second report, reflections from tour participant John Smoak of Lake Placid (photo).
This report features Bud Philbrook of USDA’s International Programs (left) and Michael Scuse of USDA’s Domestic Programs (right), discussing possible world food shortages in the years ahead and the reasons for them. Both these gentlemen spoke to our group of Farm Broadcasters during our visits to Washington D C last week.
Thursday night at University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred, industry leaders and growers joined colleagues of Center Director Dr Harold Browning, who leaves his post officially April 10 for new adventures in the Yellowstone region. 
In the first report below, a sendoff commentary as we here at the network have also enjoyed working with Browning as an effective spokesman for citrus research. In the second and third reports below, hear Browning’s comments from a couple previous AgNet broadcasts, aired a few weeks ago as his retirement was first announced. Browning’s role will now be handled by Acting Director of UF/CREC, Dr Jackie Burns (with Browning in photo).
Find the many news items we have done with Browning since we started archiving news on this network website, by CLICKING HERE.
If you are interested in finding out what is up with a federal marketing order for orange growers, it will take you less than ten minutes to hear all six reports in this series. In each report Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Mike Sparks speaks about a different angle of this topic.
The recent move by the U S Labor Department to suspend the rules put in place in January, making the H2A labor program more efficient and workable for farmers, has struck a raw nerve in labor intensive areas of farm country. With only ten days open for public comment, farmers and the folks who represent them are scrambling to provide input and look into other possibilities to stop the proposed suspension. The H2A rule adjustments went into effect just days before the Obama administration took over. Hear more in our previous new post a few days ago, and an update in this commentary. Farmers interested in knowing more would be best to contact their favorite grower organization, probably knee deep into this already.
A reminder to citrus growers and industry people about another great opportunity to tour key production areas of Brazil for updates on their HLB management practices and research, and some discussions about other citrus diseases too. Join me and just a handful of others on this trip that is being planned by Multi-County citrus agent Steve Futch (photo) at UF’s Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred. CLICK HERE to see a printable copy of the trip’s itenerary (doc file). For more information on the tour contact Steve at 863-956-1151 or E-mail him at shf@crec.ifas.ufl.edu. Also, hear about the trip in these two recent broadasts aired on our radio network.
IFAS SPONSORED TOUR OF THE CITRUS INDUSTRY OF BRAZIL:
We look forward to some of our radio listeners, website visitors and Citrus Industry Magazine readers joining us on this upcoming citrus study trip to Brazil. It’s another excellent opportunity for meaningful visits and study as the Florida Extension Service will be conducting a tour to visit the citrus industry in the states of Sao Paulo and Parana, Brazil. The tour will depart from Miami on May 23 and return on May 31, 2009. The citrus tour will visit groves in the Araraquara and Limeria area for three days. This part of the tour will focus mainly on citrus disease management with a special attention on citrus greening, CVC and other citrus pests. The three days spent in the state of Parana will focus mainly on citrus canker control strategies. In addition to the week-long citrus tour, participants can elect to visit the Citrus Week activities at the Sylvio Moreira Citrus Center in Cordeiropolis (May 30-June 2). The Citrus Week activities are very similar to the Citrus Expo with presentations and a large equipment show. The cost of the tour is $3,000 which includes airfare, hotel, ground transportation and limited meals. The optional days to attend the Citrus Week activities are an additional $550.
For more information on the tour or a complete itinerary, please contact Steve Futch at the Citrus Research & Education Center in Lake Alfred at 863-956-1151 or E-mail us at shf@crec.ifas.ufl.edu.
In what is being touted as a big step forward in citrus HLB, or greening disease, research, scientists with USDA’s Agriculture Research Service say they have sequenced the genome of the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which causes HLB. The bacterium resides in the plant’s phloem tissues, affecting the passage of nutrients and eventually killing the plant. Read more about it on the USDA website by CLICKING HERE.
ALSO you can learn a lot more about HLB research and where it all stands by going to this link too:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/citrusgreening/
This comes to us from Florida Cattlemens’ Association members Jim and Renee Strickland who want to get the word out quickly about this show. To FCA Allied members they write: Dear Allied members;
March 20-22nd will be the 2nd annual Miami International Agriculture and Cattle Show at Tropical Park in Miami. This show is aimed not only at Florida cattle producers, nursery and plant enthusiasts and the general public, but especially aimed to attract an international audience. Your sales target will be an international buyer. Read the rest of this entry »
Ernie Neff files this report about a speech by Eduardo Carlos from Brazil (in photo), who addressed a gathering of Indian River citrus growers in Ft. Pierce in recent days.
After about twelve years at the University of Florida Dr Harold Browning, Director of UF’s Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred, will leave UF this spring to pursue other endeavors. We heard about this in the industry rumor mill a while back but University officials have delayed making any official announcement, presumably until more could be said about Browning’s replacement. The fact he plans to exit the citrus industry in April was announced to a group of Indian River growers and guests last night and we figured that’s official enough for us to publish the story so the rest of the state’s growers are also in the know. Read the rest of this entry »
U S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to reporters early this week about a number of issues. Hear his comments about the delay of implementation of the nationwide Country of Origin Labelling Law (COOL) in this report.
Growers and industry leaders involved in helping guide citrus research funding decisions met again in recent days to ponder dozens of research projects that were not on the list recently recommended for funding by 
National Academy of Sciences advisors. In the first report below, AgNet’s Ernie Neff offers an overview of what was discussed and decided during the meeting. In the second report, citrus grower Peter McClure (photo) talks about why certain proposals were not included in the NAS list and how some of these are being considered for funding anyway.
This release in this week from USDA in Washington DC:
New Methods Development Laboratory Planned for South Miami, Fla.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2009–The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) plans to open a new Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) and Port Technology Methods Development Laboratory in South Miami, Fla., later this year. Scientists at this new facility will work to develop and validate state-of-the art commodity treatments and port inspection technologies used by APHIS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to ensure that agriculture imports are free of invasive species. Read the rest of this entry »
Many people in Florida citrus are familiar with Bill North’s unique citrus art. 
He really captures the special essence of “Florida” citrus in particular. North is a regular exhibitor each year at Citrus Expo, and we’ve really grown to appreciate his work over the years. Bill just informed us of his new website, so we’re passing along the information for all of his fans in our audience, and new fans who may just be learning about his work.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
In this report, Dr Calvin Arnold, Director, USDA Horticulture Lab in Ft Pierce FL, describes a concept that he says is being talked about more and more as a possible citrus psyllid and HLB control measure.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
In this report hear Dr Calvin Arnold, director of USDA’s Horticulture Research Lab in Ft Pierce FL, discuss his views on the progress of HLB research over the past three years or so since the tree disease known to many growers as “Greening” was discovered in Florida. Among other things, Arnold says there are three legs to the HLB research equation, hear what those are and which one Arnold thinks will produce the best short term results for the grower community.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
In our continuing series on the recent HLB Research Conference, AgNet’s Ernie Neff catches up to Southern Gardens Citrus VP of Grove Operations, Jim Snively for comments. Southern Gardens, a division of U S Sugar Corp., has been a leader in citrus “greening” research since the start of the problem in Florida. As far as the present status of advice from the scientific community globally, Snively says he’s encouraged the advice at this time seems to be consistent. However, he adds today’s advice is temporary for grove management until the time more long-term answers can be learned.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
More with citrus grower Juan Barcello (photo) from the Dominican Republic, speaking with Southeast AgNet’s Ernie Neff at the recent International Research Conference on Huanglongbing (HLB) in Orlando, FL. Barcello says recent finds of HLB in his country have growers worried and working on several fronts to get ready if and when HLB gets into commercial citrus areas of the country.
Southeast AgNet’s Ernie Neff is also editor of Citrus Industry Magazine. In these reports hear what growers and industry can expect from this leading industry magazine in 2009.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
In this report, Southeast AgNet’s Ernie Neff speaks with Texas A&M Research Scientist Mani Skaria (photo) about a research project he’s been working on for more than a decade. Skaria says while nobody in Florida has yet adopted his system of hi-density plantings, the system may be a good practice to help with “greening” management since his trees start producing citrus in two years’ time. He says this could allow for better profitability as growers work to control HLB in their groves over time.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
In these two reports, a good summary from the recent International Research Conference on Huanglongbing (HLB) from Dr Harold Browning, Director, University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred. In response to the question as to whether a silver bullet cure for HLB was on the horizon, Browning says it likely won’t work that way and discusses how researchers are in the midst of global collaboration leading to more and more answers to various parts of the HLB puzzle.
Juliano Ayres is with Fundecitrus in Brazil, and speaking to us at the recent International Research Conference on Huanglongbing (HLB), he says living with greening “is expensive, but possible”.
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
HLB Conference Coverage Sponsored by:
So far the lion’s share of funding for HLB research has come from the Florida growers. Florida citrus grower Peter McClure, involved in HLB research planning as chairman of the Citrus Production Research Advisory Council, says recent events like the International Research Conference on Huanglongbing (HLB) helps growers from other areas of the world realize the need to support HLB research efforts.
