Florida's citrus industry fights for life

[seafan]

Citrus industry fights for life


Photo credit: The Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida

By NADIA GERGIS
June 24, 2006

VERO BEACH — State and federal officials say the U.S. Department of Agriculture's interim rule, prohibiting the shipment of Florida citrus fruits to citrus-producing states, is causing a domino effect that could damage the state's ability to ship fresh citrus fruit to European markets.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce, was particularly vocal about the interim ban's influence on international markets.
"We are now looking at the results of bad decisions based on bad science producing devastating results," Foley said Friday. "The actions of the USDA are now jeopardizing the markets for thousands of farmers not only in the U.S. but now abroad."

On June 7, the USDA announced an interim rule, which prohibits the shipment of Florida citrus fruits to 11 citrus-producing states and territories due to concerns expressed over the potential spread of citrus canker and greening from Florida crops.
Because of the ruling, Canice Nolan, head of Food Safety Health and Consumer Affairs at the European Union Mission in Washington D.C., told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers on Thursday that the EU was considering a similar rule.

Jay Clark, a spokesman for the Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest citrus grower organization with more than 10,000 members, said he was not surprised by the EU's announcement.
"We anticipated they (EU) would look at shipping fruit into the European markets, but it's a little to (sic) premature to make comments about it," Clark said. "We're looking forward to talking with the USDA, other citrus producing states and the Europeans to resolves all these matters."

snip

Aides for Gov. Jeb Bush said he was not aware of the EU's position.

"We have not heard that the European Union is contemplating a ban on Florida citrus, however, we hope that the European Union would take a logical, science-based approach to the decision," said Kristy Campbell, deputy press secretary for Bush.

(Emphasis added)



Great way for *'s faith-based/scientifically challenged USDA to cripple Florida's economy and namesake crop. :puke:

Yes, we hope that the EU will use sound science in deciding how to approach this.... OUR GOVERNMENT sure can't.

This insanity just never ends.

[n2doc]

1. Reality has a well known Liberal bias

And it is about to bite Florida citrus on the A**.


Link please??

[seafan]

3. The link is just above the photo. n/t

[spag68]

2. Jeb Bush was not aware of the EU's position

Should have stopped at EU.

[madfloridian]

4. Know what I think?

Developers and condos are the new tax base. Citrus is now expendable here. I have no way to back that up but my own observations.

I heard a citrus grove owner say the same thing as he shrugged his shoulders hopelessly while they burned down his grove. The grove did not have canker yet, but they thought it might someday.

[seafan]

6. I agree with you, madfloridian. The developers are pushing like there is

no tomorrow. And with "their man" still sitting in the Governor's mansion in Tallahassee, they want on this gravy train until Jeb is forced out in January.

The groves are shrinking rapidly, as developers offer tremendous amounts of money to buy out the citrus farmers; many of these families have raised citrus for generations.

The citrus canker quarantine was ridiculous, as an arbitrary 1900-foot rule was adopted, that all healthy trees were destroyed if they were within this distance of any canker-infected tree. We were told that the organism is carried by wind, rain and landscapers/tree-trimmers who did not disinfect their equipment between jobs.

So, really, with all the hurricanes in Florida over the past 2 years, how could any rule like this be looked at as "scientific"?

Residents who enjoyed, for decades, fruit from their own yards, saw their trees chopped down and chipped, and were forbidden to replant for 2 years after the quarantine ended. People were, and still are, outraged.

The whole premise was that "blemished" skins on fruit could not be sold for shipment, because it would detract from the "perfect" Florida fruit visual quality. Nevermind that the fruit was harmless to eat or could be used for juice. NOOOOOO. The whole orchard had to be destroyed and homeowners had to buy fruit to eat.

But, the politicians threw some crumbs at homeowners, by issuing *WalMart vouchers* for $100 to buy other items. And we could *only* use the voucher at WalMart. Nice. Thanks, Jeb.


The developers, buoyed by a greedy few politicians, are out of control.


We are losing our way of life under these thugs.


Edited to add: The citrus canker eradication program was halted several months ago, because it was "found ineffective". Now, the University of Florida will research new varieties of citrus that may be immune to canker.

In Jeb's world, if all else fails, call in the scientists.

[madfloridian]

7. We won't know all the damage they have done until Dems get back

in power. And I am not sure we can this year. I know our party is getting active, but I fear they will be too cautious in how they speak and campaign.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. I have boycotted Florida citrus products since Dec. 2000...

I know the ailing Citrus business hurts more than neocons, but I can't support Florida OJ knowing Katherine Harris's family made their fortune in it...

[seafan]

8. Citrus peels are a source of ethanol.

Squeezing fuel from oranges

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
May 30, 2006

For decades, processors had made dry pellets out of the orange peels left over from juice production, selling them as cattle feed for a small profit, much of it to European farmers.
Then in the early 1990s, the bottom fell out of the feed market. Prices fell; production costs increased.


That’s when juice processors approached U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Karel Grohmann, based in Winter Haven, and posed a deceptively simple question: Can anything besides cattle feed be created from those messy orange peels?
His solution was ethanol, a natural biofuel more commonly extracted from corn and sugar cane.
“The citrus peel was a natural to make ethanol,” said Grohmann, who is now retired.

Today, USDA researchers partnered with a private ethanol company are in the midst of a large-scale experiment that scientists say is proving that ethanol extracted from citrus waste is a profitable, technologically feasible alternative for helping rid the industry of up to 3½ tons of waste each year.

Bill Widmer, a chemist at the USDA Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory in Winter Haven, said the citrus industry could produce up to 55-million gallons of ethanol annually based on current citrus production figures.
That’s a drop in the bucket compared with the 4.3-billion gallons of ethanol produced in the United States, mostly from Midwestern corn. But for citrus processors, it would provide revenue where they currently take a loss.

Up to 95 percent of all oranges grown in Florida are used to make juice.

“We view it as very promising,’’ said Scott Stevenson, owner of Renewable Spirits, a Delray Beach ethanol company funding the USDA research.
“It’s very economically appealing with a return on an initial investment in just two to three years. Processors are just giving away (the waste) right now.”

snip

Funny how we have to go digging for information like this.

It's an outrage that the tag team of Big Oil and Big Developers are doing everything they can to thwart any moves toward alternative fuels, whether it's forcing offshore drilling when it won't break our addiction to oil, buying up agricultural lands used for citrus groves and jamming as many condos as possible onto them, or outright destruction of healthy groves by poor state-regulated disease management.


I sense a brand new direction for the state of Florida when January 2007 finally arrives. And the people of this weary state can't wait.