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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #422292
Research Project: Management and Biology of Arthropod Pests and Arthropod-borne Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: A ‘Grove-First’ approach to find solutions for HLB

Author
item Heck, Michelle
item Niedz, Randall
item ESTES, CODY - Consultant
item Scully, Brian

Submitted to: Citrograph
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2025
Publication Date: 3/15/2025
Citation: Heck, M.L., Niedz, R.P., Estes, C., Scully, B.T. 2025. A ‘Grove-First’ approach to find solutions for HLB. Citrograph. vol. 16 no. 2.

Interpretive Summary: The California citrus industry faces a critical threat from citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing (HLB), associated with the bacterium "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" (CLas) and spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. In response to this challenge, our research team received a USDA NIFA grant in 2020 to develop solutions, and the Grove-First project emerged. Grove-First focuses on field-based approaches rather than conventional lab-based assays, a direction influenced by input from the project’s citrus stakeholder advisory board. This project aims to address the existential threat posed by HLB to grower livelihoods and the industry's future in the United States.

Technical Abstract: The Grove-First project is a paradigm shift to address citrus greening. It screens for targeted therapies and practical field applications. Current research practices start in the lab with screens on proxy bacteria. Promising candidates move into greenhouse trials on experiments using potted citrus trees. If those results are promising, field trials are initiated. After 1-3 years of field trials, therapies advance into the EPA-registration process, which can take 5-10 years depending on whether the therapy is a biopesticide or a synthetic pesticide. More than $1B has been spent on HLB research according to this pipeline and while many therapies are at various stages of this pipeline, no deliverables have advanced through the pipeline from the scientific community into the hands of the growers. In contrast, the ‘Grove-First’ approach screens and evaluates therapies directly in the field using a drug-repurposing framework. Billions of dollars have already been spent on developing supply chains and safety data on a variety of different chemistries that are used in agriculture. Grove-First prioritizes chemistries that are safe, affordable and available for screening in the field. Therapies that show big effects in the Phase.1 screen are advanced into Phase 2 field trials. The framework has yielded several market-ready therapies that provide grower options for injectable treatments to combat HLB.