The disease, which has already cost Florida growers more than $4.5 billion, has been labeled citrus greening. Ricke Kress is the president of Southern Gardens citrus and in charge of two and a half million orange trees in the state of Florida.

Since the disease was discovered, Kress and one thousand other Florida growers, who supply the majority of the nation's orange juice, have battled it with everything they have. They've gone as far as chopping down thousands of infected trees, spraying an array of different pesticides at triple the normal amount and even seeking out orange trees that carry a natural immunity - all to no avail.

Biotechnology to the rescue