Retired scientist ignites 'Orange Revolution' to fight citrus greening

HARGILL — Five years ago, Dr. Mani Skaria, then a plant pathologist at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Citrus Center at Weslaco, encouraged the citrus growers he worked with to think outside the box. He urged them to ignite what he called the Orange Revolution.

Too many factors, including exotic diseases, high land prices and urbanization, were slowly squeezing veteran citrus growers out of the business, he said. The citrus industry wasn't doing well and it was time for growers to change their longtime cultural practices.

Skaria's revolution, named after Dr. Norman Borlaug's Green Revolution and his life-saving wheat improvement projects of the mid-20th century, called for growers to switch to high-density planting using micro-budded trees that produce fruit quickly.

Skaria reasoned that the only way to stay one step ahead of tree-killing diseases and prohibitive expenses was to produce more citrus fruit per acre quicker using cost-effective methods.

"Back then, I was talking the talk with the field experience I'd had with micro-budded citrus," Skaria said. "But now, I'm walking the talk, encouraged by extraordinary field successes with micro-budded trees planted between 2008-2013 in at least seven South Texas locations."

After a 25-year career with the Texas A&M University System, Skaria retired in March and began practicing what he had been preaching. In a partnership with others, Skaria founded MicroTech LLC, which purchased a large tract of land outside Hargill in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The company has begun producing and planting citrus trees while workers build what Skaria says is a state-of-the art facility that eventually will be emulated globally. see more at http://today.agrilife.org/2013/11/20/...