Agriculture advances explained at SWFL Research and Education Center open house

Early morning rains didn't put a damper on an open house at Southwest Florida's agriculture research center in Immokalee.

More than 250 people attended the free public event, which included tours of the center's laboratories and farm operations, as well as educational demonstrations by its research students and staff. 

Luckily, the rains didn't last, so the crowds still came ready to soak up information about the local agricultural community and the center's field trials and lab experiments, which are paid for by grant money to help the region's growers battle pests and diseases, grow their crops more efficiently and reduce effects on the environment.

Previous coverage:SWFL agricultural research center plans open house

"We're very, very pleased with the attendance. We're just glad the weather improved," said Kelly Morgan, director of the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, off State Road 29.

In the last hour, a charter bus arrived with residents from the Shell Point retirement community in Fort Myers. Those Lee County residents were on a regional farm tour that included a stop at the popular annual event. 

A highlight of the research center's four-hour event was a 35-minute guided tour of the fields on a trailer pulled by a tractor. Researchers narrated the tour, explaining the experiments in the ground in great detail as they bumped along in the dirt. Some crops looked healthy, while others looked half-dead, showing the results of the many tests, some of which last for years.

Narrators on the field tour included Barry Kostyk, an entomologist, and Ozgur Batuman, a citrus pathologist. They started by sharing the history of the center, which dates to the 1950s.

About five years ago, the center almost closed because of a lack of state funding, but growers "muscled up" to make sure it stayed open, Kostyk said.

The center has expanded in recent years, with hopes of adding another dormitory to meet the growing demand from students. The center is in the midst of raising $500,000 to build eight more dorms.

On the tour, Kostyk shared how researchers are growing crops in narrower rows and elevating the plants in the soil, which has enabled them to cut water use by up to 50 percent and to reduce the leaching of nutrients by nearly half. His listeners applauded the effort.

Kostyk also explained how spider venom is being used as a natural pesticide on some crops, with some positive results, which was met with some disbelief.

Other trials include using white plastic on row crops to deflect the heat when temperatures are higher outside, and black plastic to trap the heat when the weather is chillier.

Growing crops in Southwest Florida can be especially tough because the soil is so sandy, Kostyk said.

"Think hydroponics," he said. "We almost grow hydroponically here." 

Researchers also are using steam machines to curb weeds and reflective material on the ground to keep bugs away, which is ever more important in the fight against the deadly citrus greening disease. The disease is spread by a tiny insect, known as a citrus psyllid.

Batuman emphasized the importance of the center's citrus research. Much of the research is focused on greening, an incurable tree-killing disease. Since there is no cure for greening, researchers have focused on finding more-resistant rootstocks and making trees stronger so they can last longer by "spoon-feeding" them water and nutrients more often.

"We don't know what to do," Batuman said. "So we are trying to understand this disease."

For the trees, the citrus psyllids are like the mosquitoes that transmit malaria to humans, he explained. Asked by one rider if citrus greening is as bad in California, Batuman said it's not, because growers have been more proactive and aggressive about fighting it.

"Ninety-five percent of citrus is infected in Florida," he said.

The center's researchers are experimenting with screen houses to help protect young trees from getting greening. Residents who are thinking about planting citrus trees in their backyards, Batuman said, should go with the sugar belle variety, which is more resistant to greening.

"It will look good like citrus, and it will give you some good fruit," he said.

Riders oohed and aahed when they saw a drone flying in the air over the fields, as it collected data on soil and plant conditions. The intelligence can be used to detect problems in the field and to address them with more precision, which can reduce the amount of chemicals that are applied.

"It might take my job away," Batuman said. "But we love to use this technology." 

Naples residents and retirees Richard and Bobbie Nemerson, who attended the event for the first time, were impressed by what they saw.

"We were interested to see what was going on," he said. "It exceeded my expectations. I'm blown away with all that they are doing there." 

The researchers really showed that they know what they are doing, his wife added. 

The couple was also liked the educational demonstrations by students, who come from all over the world to study and do research at the center. 

One of the demonstrations was made by Shahrzad Budaghi, 28, a plant physiologist and postdoctoral student. She arrived in August of last year to join a four-year program. 

She showed off a tube with a scanner in it that is helping her and other researchers track the health of citrus trees and their roots planted on different rootstocks in large containers. Some trees are healthy, while others are exposed to pests and disease.

Asked why she wanted to come to Immokalee, Budaghi said, "I wanted to learn more about and experiment with new plants."