Crop Transformation Center
The University of Florida, Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences Crop Transformation Center (UF/IFAS CTC) was founded in 2023 to address the need for rapid development and commercialization of genetically improved crops.
Our mission is to accelerate genetic gain for specialty crops to improve human and environmental health.
We aim to:
- Increase the availability, access, and adoption of new plant varieties, leading to a greater supply and variety of phytonutrient-rich foods.
- Advance crop improvement methodologies that harness predictive breeding, precision agriculture and plant transformation, and gene-editing to hasten rate of genetic gain while improving the positive net impact of agriculture on the environment.
- Engage producers and consumers in a fruitful dialogue to increase understanding of crop improvement technologies, healthy lifestyle and eating behaviors, and inform center strategies.
CTC projects focus on crop improvement across all major crops grown in Florida. Our first project focuses on creating citrus varieties that can tolerate or even resist citrus greening disease, also known as Huanlongbing (HLB). Growers are looking for solutions to the disease, which has caused a 70-80% reduction in production.
Our partners are the Florida Department of Citrus, the Citrus Research & Development Foundation, and NIFA to enable a comprehensive project to evaluate new ideas to combat HLB in Florida. CTC harnesses core capabilities to activate an end-to-end approach to translate these novel ideas into products for the Florida farmer and consumers.
Our core capabilities include:
- Artificial Intelligence Center at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center
- Plant Transformation Laboratories Lake Alfred and Gainesville Campus
- UF/IFAS Plant Breeding
- Plant Breeding Working Group
- Precision Agriculture NSF IoT4Ag REC
- Phenomics & Field Evaluation
- Human dimensions, program evaluation & communication outreach to increase adoption
