UF/IFAS Team Secures $5M USDA Grant To Expand Avocado Production Into Central Florida, Combat Laurel Wilt Disease
UF researchers have secured a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to combat the lethal Laurel Wilt disease and the redbay ambrosia beetles that cause it.
Decision-Support Tool Using HiperGator May Help Manage Devastating Avocado Disease
UF/IFAS researchers are working on a decision-support app to help policymakers and growers decide the best regional treatment options for laurel wilt disease, which is challenging Florida’s $35 million-a-year avocado crop. Laurel wilt disease is spread by several ambrosia beetle vectors. People, whether they grow avocados or not, can spread the beetles when they move […]
UF/IFAS Researchers Make Strides in Saving Florida Avocado Industry
As consumers commemorate National Avocado Day on July 31, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences scientists keep a steady pace of lab and field work for the Florida avocado industry as they fight laurel wilt. Detected in Georgia in 2002, laurel wilt’s devastating effects were observed for the first time in […]