As the tests, trials, lab work, and field work continue to march forward in the Florida citrus industry’s decades-long battle with citrus greening, now is a good time to reflect on the importance of the work of the budwood program.
Current Director Justin Ezell, former Director Ben Rosson, and their staff should be credited for their visionary work in making the Bureau of Budwood Registration a vital part in keeping a stable supply of clean Florida citrus ready for the growers. Ezell has worked in the Department of Agriculture for 22 years and with Budwood since 2015. He was named the director in 2024 after Rosson took a role with the FDACS Division of Food Safety.
The Citrus Budwood Program is not new. It was established in 1953 and mandatory registration for all varieties was required in 1997 — a full eight years before greening first came to Florida.
The objective of the program is simple: Help growers produce superior citrus that is believed to be free of viruses and other graft-transmissible diseases.
While that objective sounds simple, the reality is a bit more nuanced and requires a constant monitoring of all the research and trials taking place around the state and beyond. If research on a particular variety looks promising, Ezell and his team begin the process of making sure there is enough for growers when that variety is ready for planting.
“We try to stay ahead of the game,” says Ezell. “That’s why we work so closely with the people who do the research and work in the field. When something looks pretty good, we begin ramping up the material so we can have a source of it ready to go.”
The work is spread over four facilities. The Budwood Program in Chiefland was built in 2006, and it has expanded three times to accommodate the emerging varieties. This location is the source for all clean citrus stock in the state.
In Alachua County, the LaCrosse Citrus Repository accepts citrus varieties from outside of Florida, including the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. The budwood at this facility goes through a thorough cleaning process to make sure no new diseases are introduced.
Dirty material from in-state grafts and shoot-tip grafts are sent to the Florida Citrus Arboretum in Winter Haven for cleanup and transport to LaCrosse where they can be grown out. The Arboretum also collects new samples for testing and sends them to LaCrosse for analysis.
In 2021, the program added its fourth facility in Trenton to house the Accelerated Budwood Initiative for existing tolerant and new resistant varieties. The initiative focuses on producing clean citrus budwood of different varieties.
While trials and tests get many of the headlines, the work of people like Ezell and the staff at the Bureau of Budwood Registration has been instrumental in curating a reliable supply of plant support material for the Florida citrus industry. Their efforts have also helped to make the Bureau the leading citrus budwood authority in the world.