Dr. Harold Browning, the chief operating officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, gave an update on citrus greening to the state Senate Agricultural Committee on Monday.
During his presentation, Browning emphasized the need to push for commercial development of products that are showing the greatest ability to combat the disease.
“We don’t have a lot of time. We can’t wait for the science to have a ‘Eureka’ moment and allow them to publish over a long period time,” Browning said. “We are actually pulling those results out of their hands and saying we want to find commercial partner, we want to move these results immediately to the test.”
The CRDF is focused on delivering solutions to growers, Browning said, and moving as quickly as possible.
In January, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam called for $18 million in state funding to help fight citrus greening.
A video of Browning’s presentation can be viewed at TheFloridaChannel.org.
