Seneca partners with Evik to offer solutions for citrus crisis | MyNews | Seneca Students

A research project currently underway at Seneca could help save the valuable U.S. citrus industry. 

Fruits such as oranges, grapefruits and lemons are being threatened by a disease called Huanglongbing (HLB), which has been wreaking havoc for the last 20 years.

Frank Merante, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, is the Principal Investigator for the project, in partnership with Ottawa-based Evik Diagnostic Innovations Inc. He is leading a research team tasked with creating tests to detect the disease.

HLB is a crop-killing disease spread by the Asian Citrus Psyllid, an insect that’s been in Florida since 1998, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). After the insect arrived, the disease was discovered in trees and started to spread through citrus groves. It has also affected crops in other citrus growing states. The U.S. citrus industry is worth more than US$3 billion a year and employs more than 16,000 people.

Read more about the research.