AgroSource, Inc. is a science-based, privately-held crop protection company that has developed two new products that are proving to be effective combatants against HLB and canker. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) signed a Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) with the company back in August of 2013. The CRADA allows AgroSource to share resources with the USDA-ARS to conduct comprehensive scientific research, development, registration and commercialization of these new products, FireLine and FireWall. We spoke with Taw Richardson, president and CEO of AgroSource, after his recent presentation at the 2015 Citrus Expo.
“The bottom line is that we have been able to treat and significantly reduce the titer of Liberibacter in the tree and show tree health improvements already with the work that we’ve done,” Richardson said. Both FireLine and FireWall are being submitted to the EPA for full Section 3 registrations and recommending Section 18 emergency exemptions for HLB treatment in all citrus. Emergency exemptions can be requested by state or federal agencies when a serious pest problem jeopardizes production of agricultural goods or public health, but no pesticides are currently registered for that situation (http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/pesticide-emergency-exemptions). Richardson said the company will be opening a registration program where growers can sign up to participate in additional trials, and it will release that information soon.
For additional information, contact Sales@AgroSource.net