From 15 to 18 September 2026, CITRUSBUSTERS was presented at the International Citrus & Beverage Conference (ICBC) in Clearwater Beach, Florida, in front of approximately 1.000 industry experts.

The presentation was delivered by Aintzane Esturo, Technical Director at the International Fruit and Vegetable Juice Association (IFU), who took the stage to share updates on IFU’s core projects, with a special spotlight on CITRUSBUSTERS. IFU is the CITRUSBUSTERS partner leading networking and ecosystem-building activities under Work Package 6. On the ground alongside her was Jan van Iperen, IFU’s US Ambassador.

About the conference

Held annually since 1960, ICBC is organised by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF IFAS). This year’s edition took place at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach and brought together approximately 1,000 industry professionals from around the world.

The conference agenda spans the full arc of the citrus and beverage industries: global juice and beverage technology, the marketing of new and innovative products, quality and consumer testing, processing technology, and the impact of new regulations, including the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). It is one of the few events where citrus researchers, juice producers, technology providers and consumer analysts sit in the same room.

A European voice in a Florida room

CITRUSBUSTERS is a Horizon Europe project developing preventive and biological solutions against the two most devastating citrus diseases in the world: Huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening), caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter, and Citrus Black Spot (CBS), caused by the fungus Phyllosticta citricarpa. Both are already established or emerging in citrus-producing regions worldwide.

For an industry that has watched HLB decimate Florida’s citrus production over roughly two decades, and that continues to face rising cost pressures from disease management, the science being built inside CITRUSBUSTERS is directly relevant to a US audience. Early detection tools based on sensors and machine learning. Plant-immunity-activating biofractions derived from citrus peel waste. Biocontrol strategies including RNA interference and endolysins targeting the pathogens and their insect vectors.

Presenting the project to nearly a thousand industry professionals at the heart of the American citrus beverage industry is exactly the kind of outreach CITRUSBUSTERS was designed to enable: bringing European citrus protection science to the audiences that most need to hear about it.

CITRUSBUSTERS thanks Aintzane Esturo and Jan van Iperen for representing the project at ICBC 2026, and IFU for its ongoing leadership of the project’s international networking activities.

One more step towards putting the tools built in Europe into the hands of the growers, processors and researchers who most need them, wherever in the world they are. Because citrus greening does not stop at the Atlantic. Neither should the science that fights it.

Contact: International Fruit and Vegetable Juice Association (IFU), aintzane@ifu-fruitjuice.com