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2008 Research Initiatives In 2008, the Florida Specialty Crop Foundation funded research projects totaling more than $81,000 to fight pests and diseases. The projects include:
-- Development of induced resistance as a management strategy for controlling phytophthora blight of squash (Zhang, Gevens, Klassen)
-- Deciduous fruit crops for North Florida: Impediments for agricultural sustainability (Anderson and Mizel)
-- Evaluation of Predators for Biological Control of the Yellowmargined Leaf Beetle (Cave, Skvarch, Montemayor)
-- Major sponsor of the International Research Conference of HLB (Citrus Greening) in partnership with USDA, FDACS, IFAS
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Other Projects
Food safety. Over $900,000 in grants has been made available for 11 food safety research projects, including studies of innovative post-harvest treatments to enhance the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables, five-log reduction on fresh juice, and survivability of pathogenic salmonella. In addition to this research, the Foundation made possible the development and distribution of a Food Safety Toolkit to growers.
Methyl bromide alternatives. More than $800,000 has helped fund 10 projects to study potential alternatives to the use of methyl bromide as a fumigant in Florida agricultural production. The Foundation also has provided more than $130,000 to support critical-use exemptions for Florida growers’ use of methyl bromide.
Specialty crop production research. The Foundation has funded more than $300,000 for eight production research projects. Those efforts have resulted in the development of an integrated pest management program for edible crops, and grants for additional research into the elimination of Citrus Tristeza Virus from infected budwood and reduction of primary inoculum sources as a means of reducing fungicide inputs.
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