Givaudan Donates $3.5 Million to Protect Citrus Collection

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Givaudan has donated $3.5 million to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in support of its Citrus Variety Collection.

The collection faces the impending threat of citrus greening disease, also known as Huanglongbing, or HLB. The gift will fund a 2.8-acre protective-screened structure for new trees, as well as back-up collections. Established more than 100 years ago, the UCR Citrus Valley Collection includes two trees of around 1,000 types of citrus, and occupies 22.3 acres on the UCR campus along with two smaller, remote sites.

Further Reading: USDA's Latest "Buzz" on Citrus Greening

“A significant part of our latest gift to UCR will protect the collection from greening – today's main challenge to citrus,” said Dawn Streich, Givaudan’s global citrus product manager.

For a 10-year period, the collection will be known as the Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at the University of California, Riverside. In 2011, a Givaudan gift created the Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection Endowed Chair; this new gift will also add to that endowment.

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