Gene-Edited Trees Could Save Florida’s Citrus Industry

Florida citrus growers are planting some of the first trees whose rootstock has been modified using CRISPR gene-editing technology to withstand citrus greening disease, the bacterial infection that has devastated the state’s signature crop for two decades. The technology, called CarriCea T1, was developed by Tampa-based biotech company Soilcea with University of Florida scientists and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in April 2026 — the first CRISPR-edited citrus rootstock cleared for greening tolerance.

Growers now face an agonizing wait: the real test will take years, as fruit yield and long-term performance only become clear with mature, 10-year-old trees.

A Disease That Nearly Ended an Industry

Citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, arrived in Florida in 2005, spread by a tiny winged insect called the Asian citrus psyllid. As NPR reported, the disease attacks a tree’s immune system, so it cannot fight off infection. Once infected, a tree produces bitter, discolored fruit and usually dies a few years later. There is no cure.

The toll has been staggering. According to the EPA, greening has destroyed more than 90 percent of Florida’s citrus production over the past two decades. In the late 1990s, growers shipped around 300 million boxes of fruit each season; by the 2024–2025 season, total production had collapsed to 12.15 million boxes of oranges, 1.3 million boxes of grapefruit, and 400,000 boxes of tangerines and tangelos — the smallest Florida harvest on record since 1919–1920. At the industry’s 2003–2004 peak, Florida growers produced nearly 292 million boxes of citrus; today’s harvest is less than 5 percent of that total.

The human cost is just as stark. Ron English, a third-generation Florida grower, ran a citrus business in Valrico for generations until greening wiped it out, forcing the family to close in 2015.

“We had some of the best looking groves around, and all the time and effort that we had spent, you just see it diminish right before you,” English said.

How the Technology Works

Rather than introducing DNA from other organisms, Soilcea used CRISPR to make precise edits to the citrus tree’s own existing genes. These edits disrupt the interaction between the plant and the greening bacterium, helping the tree limit infection on its own.

The focus on rootstock is deliberate. Soilcea CEO Yianni Lagos explained that although the first visible sign of infection is yellowing leaves, “before you even have symptoms, half the root system is already dead.”

At Soilcea’s test field in Thonotosassa, Florida, trees with the CarriCea T1 rootstock planted last summer stand taller and greener than adjacent non-modified trees, which show yellowing and discoloration from disease. English now cares for those experimental trees.

“That’s the CarriCea rootstock — see how big the leaves have filled out,” he said, pointing to a modified tree. The smaller tree beside it, without the rootstock, is already succumbing. “See the discoloration, that’s the disease already working through the tree,” he said.

Lagos, however, is careful not to overpromise. “The data suggests it’s gonna work, but until you have a 10-year-old tree, you don’t know how the tree is going to perform,” he said.

Regulatory Milestone and Industry Reaction

The EPA reviewed CarriCea T1 as a plant-incorporated protectant under its existing regulatory framework, conducting a dietary safety assessment that includes residues and breakdown products. The agency said fruit produced from the rootstock is indistinguishable from fruit grown on other rootstock varieties — and that by reducing reliance on chemical sprays, the technology means less pesticide applied to orchards and handled by farmworkers.

“A secure, abundant food supply keeps Americans healthy and fuels economic growth,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the agency’s announcement. “CarriCea T1 helps protect American citrus, supports a nutritious food supply, and lets growers rely less on conventional pesticide applications. That’s a win for farmers and a win for American families.”

The EPA warned that without effective new tools, greening threatens to end commercial citrus production in the United States, forcing Americans to depend on foreign growers — many of whom apply pesticides on weekly or more frequent schedules — driving up grocery prices and shuttering family farms.

Industry leaders have embraced the approval. “CarriCea T1 is the first look at citrus trees of the future, helping reduce input costs and strengthening the resilience of Florida’s citrus industry,” Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of the grower trade group Florida Citrus Mutual, said in the announcement. “Developed right here in Florida for Florida growers, this innovation has the potential to transform the global citrus industry.”

Florida Citrus Mutual Board President Kevin Koppelman echoed that optimism, saying the tool is “giving our industry renewed confidence in the future as we work to recover and rebuild.”

200,000 Trees in the Pipeline

The timing of the approval is significant. According to FreshFruitPortal, Soilcea has 200,000 CarriCea T1 trees moving through the nursery pipeline, ready for growers ahead of the 2026–2027 citrus season.

“We’re getting these CarriCea T1 trees ready to go for growers,” Lagos told the publication. “We have 200,000 of these trees going through the nursery pipeline.” Lagos also assured that both environmental and human health risk assessments for the cultivar showed no reasonable risks detected.

The broader recovery effort extends beyond genetics. The 2024–2025 season marked Florida’s lowest harvest in a century, and the USDA initially forecast the 2025–2026 season would hit another record low for oranges, at roughly 12 million boxes. But Joyner noted that production is making per-acre gains, with growers reporting healthier trees and larger fruit. The state also committed $140 million in funding to support the citrus industry in July, with more than $100 million designated for research, field trials, and planting disease-resistant varieties, according to Florida Citrus Mutual.

The Road Ahead

The approval of CarriCea T1 marks a philosophical shift in how growers confront disease: toward biological resistance rather than reliance on chemicals alone. It also offers a potential model for citrus growers worldwide, as HLB afflicts orchards far beyond Florida.

Yet caution is warranted. The technology’s ultimate success depends on years of data that simply do not exist yet — how grafted trees yield, how their fruit tastes, and whether the resistance holds across seasons and growing conditions. Broad implementation will take time.

For an industry that has lost so much, even a cautious hope represents a meaningful turning point. The question now is whether edited genes can do what decades of sprays, tents, and therapies could not: keep Florida’s iconic citrus groves alive.