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The keynote speaker was co-author Michelle Heck, adjunct professor at BTI and Cornell University and Research Molecular Biologist at USDA-ARS, who spoke about her innovative research to prevent citrus greening disease.

Compounding the issues even further is citrus greening disease, which has been spread to many fruit trees due by invasive insects.

Florida's citrus industry, already struggling after years of battling citrus greening disease, suffered another blow this year after Hurricane Ian struck the state, causing a 60 percent decline in production.

They're also used for research: into varietals that do well in California's ongoing drought conditions, or that contain genes that don't succumb to huanglongbing, aka citrus greening disease, which is devastating Florida's juice industry and has also spread to Texas, Arizona and California.

Even before the hurricane, Florida’s orange production was predicted to be down by almost a third this season because of the deadly citrus greening disease.