The Citrus Advanced Technology Program is open to applicants from any institutional, university or government affiliation, and from any geographic region or discipline.

Interested applicants may submit a single page preproposal description of their proposed project thru October 3, 2011 as detailed in the Preproposal Instructions available at www.citrusrdf.org. After review, a list of projects selected will be posted on the CRDF web site (by October 21, 2011), inviting those researchers to submit full proposals by November 21, 2011 for consideration for funding, with notice of awards expected at the beginning of March 2012.

Preproposal Application Instructions

Download Preproposal Form

Researcher’s Timeline:

October 3, 2011 – Deadline for Preproposal submission to catp@citrusrdf.org

October 21, 2011 – Preproposal list invited to submit Full Proposals posted at www.citrusrdf.org

November 21, 2011 – Deadline for Full Proposal submission by those invited

March 3, 2012 – List of Proposals approved for funding posted at www.citrusrdf.org

Note: The timeline  is subject to change. Researchers are encouraged to check back at www.citrusrdf.org periodically for any CATP11 updates.

Florida’s Natural Growers Announces Donation to Fight Citrus Greening

The Florida’s Natural Growers Board of Directors voted to donate $250,000 to fight citrus greening, a disease plaguing the Florida Citrus industry.  “As a Florida grower cooperative, it is important to combat this disease with every resource available.  This support of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation and their efforts to battle citrus greening is vital to the long term future of the Florida Citrus Industry,” commented Steve Caruso, Florida’s Natural Growers CEO.  The Cooperative’s Board of Directors showed their commitment to the fight with this significant donation to the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, the leader in citrus research against HLB. 

HLB, commonly known as citrus greening, is a bacterium that was confirmed in the State of Florida in 2005 and is evident in every citrus growing region in the State as well as other citrus growing regions worldwide.  The disease attacks the nutrient absorption of the citrus tree and leads to a rapid decline and eventual death.  “For the Florida Citrus Industry, HLB is the most important issue,” added Caruso.

About The Citrus Research and Development Foundation, Inc.

 The Citrus Research and Development Foundation Inc. (CRDF) is a Florida non-profit corporation organized in May 2009 under Florida State laws as a Direct Service Organization of the University of Florida.  The mission of the CRDF is to “advance disease and production research and product development activities to ensure the survival and competitiveness of Florida’s citrus growers through innovation.” 

 About Florida’s Natural Growers

First formed in 1933, the growers’ cooperative was named Florida Citrus Canners Cooperative, as its main function was canning grapefruit sections and juice for its grower members.  After the development of frozen concentrated juices in the 1940’s, the Cooperative invested in the necessary infrastructure and became one of the largest juice processors in the state.  In 1969, the Canners Cooperative eventually changed its name to Citrus World, Inc. to better reflect its diverse product line.  Today, the majority of the Cooperative’s sales are derived from the Florida’s Natural ® Brand.  The cooperative now uses Florida’s Natural Growers as its name.  Florida’s Natural® Brand is the only national brand of Not-From-Concentrate Premium juice that uses oranges From Florida and Only Florida™.

Florida’s Natural Growers is comprised of thirteen grower organizations representing almost 1,000 individual growers who own nearly 50,000 acres of citrus in Florida.  Florida’s Natural Growers operates its processing plant in Lake Wales, Florida, with a juice packaging plant in Umatilla, Florida.  The Lake Wales facility employs 850 employees and can extract over nine million pounds of fruit every twenty-four hours in peak season.  Brands produced in Lake Wales include Florida’s Natural ®, Florida’s Natural Growers Pride ®, Donald Duck ®, Bluebird ®, and Florida’s Natural Earth’s Own™.

The Florida Citrus Processors Association (FCPA) announced the donation of $250,000 to support the work of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation at the Seventh Annual Citrus Industry Conference in Bonita Springs, Florida. The contribution from FCPA, which includes all of the major juice processors in the state of Florida, is something FCPA hopes will benefit the entire industry. “Processors are committed to the Florida citrus industry and finding a way to eliminate the threat of pests and diseases, like Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) and citrus canker,” said Peter Hahn, President of FCPA. He noted further, “We are grateful for the work of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation and are honored to contribute to the long term effort to attack the pests and diseases that affect the very survival of our industry.”  

This announcement was followed by the announcement of a matching donation of $250,000 from Peace River Citrus Products.  Fran Becker, Vice President, Purchasing and Fruit Procurement at Peace River Citrus Products, made the announcement during the Florida Citrus Mutual Board of Directors Meeting at Bonita Springs.

Kristen Gunter, Executive Director of FCPA, stated the donation this year could be particularly critical since the Foundation needs appropriate funding to support research programs that are in progress. “We need to keep up the forward momentum and not lose ground in this battle,” said Gunter.  The FCPA is a trade association whose members market and process citrus fruit juices. The association was established in 1938 and its headquarters are located in Lakeland, Florida. FCPA’s mission is to represent, communicate, protect and enhance the interests of its members, and to promote the growth and welfare of the citrus industry.

Peace River Citrus Products is a leading producer of bulk juice concentrates, oils, pulp cells, and other byproducts from oranges and white and red grapefruits sourced from Florida growers. The company supplies food and beverage manufacturers from its processing plants in Arcadia and Bartow, Florida. Peace River Citrus was founded in 1994 by President Bill Becker.

June 15, 2011                                    

This project was funded in part by the Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council (a precursor to the Citrus Research and Development Foundation). Phytozome.net is a project of the DOE JGI and the Center for Integrative Genomes.

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The Coca-Cola Company and Cutrale Citrus Juices of Brazil each recently donated $1.5 million (for a total of $3 million) to the Citrus Research and Development Foundation to help fight greening research. Since 2009, the Foundation has collaborated with the National Academy of Sciences to advance this disease research. These donations reflect the industry’s commitment to finding a solution to this important global disease problem.

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