Farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) have a powerful new ally in the fight against crop diseases.
Meet Monica Navia-Urrutia a plant pathologist at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). Working in the heart of the EAA – at the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center (EREC) — she brings unique skill sets and a passion for supporting growers with cutting-edge research and disease management solutions for the region’s key crops.
The EAA plays a crucial role in Florida’s agricultural economy, generating over $11 billion in sales annually and supporting 118,000 jobs in Palm Beach County alone. The region’s fertile fields produce sugarcane, sweet corn, rice, lettuce, microgreens, celery, green beans and radishes, all of which are vulnerable to plant diseases that can threaten yields and drive up production costs.
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Florida’s warm, humid climate is a haven for plant pathogens, making disease management a costly and continuous battle for growers, said Navia-Urrutia.
“Plant pathogens love Florida’s weather. It is warm, hot and humid most of the year, and most pathogens grow very well under these conditions,” she said. “We don’t have pronounced winters that could help reduce some pathogens in the field, and throughout the year, we can find several different diseases affecting a single crop. If not identified correctly or treated at the right time, farmers can lose valuable resources that come at a great cost.”
Navia-Urrutia’s research and Extension work focuses on developing cost-effective, disease-management strategies for sugarcane, rice and commercial sod grown in the EAA and surrounding areas.
“My goal is to provide farmers with solutions that contribute to their economic sustainability,” she said. “This ultimately impacts food security because food will be available and affordable to consumers. Even when you think about non-food crops, such as sod, its affordability also has an impact on our well-being.”
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Her approach? She plans to develop tests for rapid and accurate disease diagnoses that will help farmers spot and prevent the spread of crop diseases. She will also work to identify disease-resistant sugarcane and rice cultivars, helping to reduce disease-management costs. One of her goals is to develop a disease-alert system for major EAA crops, in partnership with epidemiologists and agricultural engineers.
“UF/IFAS has created similar tools for strawberries and blueberries,” she explained. “If we can implement this for sugarcane, rice and other crops, farmers will receive real-time alerts when weather conditions favor disease outbreaks, allowing them to make informed management decisions.”
Beyond the fields, Navia-Urrutia’s research plans are aimed at producing direct benefits for consumers. As a staunch advocate for bridging the gap between research and real-world applications, she believes science only has an impact when it reaches the people who need it most. Her research will have direct benefits for consumers by helping farmers maintain steady, sustainable production.
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“Behind every thriving crop is a farmer, and behind that farmer is a team of scientists working to make food production possible,” she said. “If we help growers keep their crops healthy, we keep food available and affordable for consumers,” she said. “And by promoting disease-resistant cultivars and responsible chemical use, we also protect Florida’s environment.”
To showcase this dedication to the agricultural community, growers and reporters are invited to join Navia-Urrutia and the rest of the EREC faculty, scientists and students on April 3 for an interactive field day themed “Growing Together Toward Sustainability.” Registration is required for the day’s events, at 3200 East Canal St. South in Belle Glade, that will include facility tours and highlights of current research project throughout the grounds.
While many believe plant disease control relies solely on chemical treatments, Navia-Urrutia wants to change that perception and emphasizes how plant pathologists work hard to optimize chemical use while also working on other solutions like disease-resistant crops or biological control.
“When people buy food, most of them are not aware that diseases threaten their food. But when people think about disease management, they believe we rely only on chemicals for control,” she said.
This is a misconception she plans to change.
“Plant pathologists know that for effective disease management, we must integrate as many strategies as available,” she said. “And we and plant breeders put much effort into identifying disease-resistant cultivars because we know this is the most durable, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly strategy.”
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Navia-Urrutia’s journey to plant pathology began in her home country of Colombia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus on genetics from Universidad del Valle in Cali. She was a researcher at the International Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Palmira, Colombia, studying sustainable food systems and tackling fungal diseases affecting common bean plants. Then, she joined the Colombian Research Center in Oil Palm (CENIPALMA), where her research focused on disease detection. This experience ignited her passion for plant pathology and disease resistance research.
She went on to earn a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Kansas State University, before joining UF/IFAS as a postdoctoral associate at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead. There she spent four years honing her expertise in plant diagnostics and disease management.
“We are very fortunate to have recruited Dr. Urrutia at the EREC,” said Samira Daroub, EREC’s center director. “Her knowledge, skills and expertise in plant pathology are a perfect fit to the needs of our stakeholders. Her research and extension programs will focus on important diseases that may impact sugarcane, rice and sod using latest technologies in plant breeding and establishing a disease alert system”
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