History of the Program

For many decades, the Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP) in California and Citrus Nursery Stock Certification Program in Florida worked to provide clean propagative material to the citrus industry. The effort expanded to include 10 centers and programs in 9 states and territories in 2009 as a response to the threat of HLB.

Since the mid 1960's, most nurseries have been using tested and registered materials originally derived from the CCPP so the presence in the field of most of the following diseases is rare in commercial groves but may be encountered in very old plantings: Cachexia, Concave Gum, Exocortis, Psoriasis, Stubborn, Tristeza, Vein Enation/ Woody Gall. The diseases that continue to be a problem to citrus are those with natural insect vectors, notably tristeza, stubborn and HLB.

In California, the CCPP has its roots in the 1933 original discovery of the virus nature of the citrus psorosis disease by Dr. H. S. Fawcett of the Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside. That discovery triggered the establishment of the Psorosis Freedom Program in 1937. In 1957, the Citrus Variety Improvement Program was inaugurated and it was later renamed to Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP). Today the CCPP stands as a cooperative program with the University of California, Riverside (UCR)-Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) and the citrus industry of the state of California represented by the California Citrus Nursery Board (CCNB) and the Citrus Research Board (CRB). The CCPP website has extensive information about the process used to eliminate viruses, testing and more. https://ccpp.ucr.edu/index.html

In Florida, the Citrus Nursery Stock Certification Program is administered by the Florida Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration (FBCBR), which is part of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry. It began in 1953 as a voluntary program. The first foundation grove in Florida was planted in 1959 and several more were established over the decades. The program became mandatory for all citrus propagation in 1997. The program is an active participant in NCPN-Citrus. Extensive information about the Florida Program can be found at https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry/Agriculture-Industry/Citrus-Health-Response-Program/Citrus-Budwood-Program