UF Startups Deploy AI Drones to Battle Florida Citrus Greening

Florida's citrus industry wrapped its latest growing season with the weakest harvest in eight decades, battered by citrus greening disease, or HLB, which has wiped out over 90% of production in two decades. Now, two UF startups—Agriculture Intelligence and Satlantis—are collaborating from UF's business incubator in Gainesville to deploy AI-driven precision agriculture and high-resolution satellite imagery for monthly grove inventories. 'Our goal is to shorten the time between data collections and analyses,' said John Donovan of Agriculture Intelligence, enabling faster responses to storms, freezes and HLB spread across Central Florida's groves.

The initiative builds on drone-based monitoring partnerships between growers and UF researchers, initially reported by News4JAX, targeting the state's $9 billion citrus sector centered in Polk, Highlands and DeSoto counties. By combining Satlantis' aerospace tech with Agriculture Intelligence's ag expertise, the tools promise real-time detection of infected trees, reducing the decision loop for treatments. This comes as UF's Crop Transformation Center in Gainesville ramps up gene-editing efforts, like CRISPR-developed trees licensed to Soilcea, which produce fruit despite HLB exposure without foreign DNA.

Recent breakthroughs bolster the fight: In 2025, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., hailed EPA approval of CarriCea T1, a non-GMO rootstock that edits citrus genes to disrupt HLB bacteria, cutting reliance on pesticides. UF/IFAS researchers at the CTC, led by Charlie Messina, use AI data analysis and precision breeding to enhance plant immunity, testing varieties with Florida growers. Meanwhile, protective mesh bags shield young trees from psyllid vectors, now endemic since 2005, as the state shifts from eradication to costly management strategies.