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USDA Quarantines Fla. Fruit

Posted on: Thursday, 8 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By William R. Levesque, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.

Jun. 7--The U.S. Department of Agriculture is imposing a sweeping canker quarantine to halt the shipment of fresh Florida citrus to other citrus-producing states and U.S. territories, a potentially devastating blow to some Florida growers.

The USDA said Tuesday the indefinite quarantine is necessary to prevent the spread of citrus canker from Florida -- where the disease has spread across 65,000 acres and is essentially out of control -- to other regions where the citrus disease does not exist.

"Once we determined there was no chance of eradicating citrus canker from Florida, that's when we say, 'How do we prevent its spread outside the state?' " said Jim Rogers, a USDA spokesman. "We want people to be able to do their business. But we also want to protect growers outside Florida."

Under the indefinite quarantine, which is expected to be imposed by October, Florida growers would not be able to ship fresh fruit to California, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Hawaii and Alabama, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.

"Growers can still ship citrus to 44 states," Rogers noted.

The decision was met with immediate condemnation from Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who accused the USDA of bowing to pressure from politically connected California citrus growers, who compete with Florida in fresh markets.

"It's going to affect a section of our industry very hard," Bronson said. "And we have some indication it will put some people out of business. This is unnecessary. We have a scientific study that shows the feasibility of spreading canker by shipping citrus is practically zero." The USDA's Rogers said that, while the USDA consulted with growers in other states, the agency was not buckling to pressure from Florida's market competitors.

"We believe that we have the science on our side," Rogers said. "We get comments like (Bronson's) any time we go through a process like this." Citrus canker, which is harmless to humans, causes blemishes on fruit and makes it drop prematurely from trees.

Spread by high winds and water, the hurricanes of the past two years spread canker so widely in the state, the USDA declared in January that it could not be eradicated.

That decision halted future payments the federal government had been making to growers whose trees were destroyed by the state in an effort to control the disease.

The impact of Tuesday's decision, while critical to some growers, especially those who grow grapefruit, will be relatively small on the industry as a whole. More than 90 percent of all oranges grown in Florida's $9-billion citrus industry are used to make juice.

Richard Kinney, executive director of the Florida Citrus Packers Association, said Florida last season shipped 1.2-million 42-pound cartons of fruit to other citrus-producing states.

Overall, the state last season shipped up to 26-million boxes of fresh citrus, Kinney said.

The value of the market to other citrus-producing states could not immediately be determined, though the Palm Beach Post reported its value at $14.9-million.

"I think this is a major blow to fresh growers," said Harry Falk, president of Heller Bros. Packing Corp. in Winter Garden, a shipper of fresh fruit.

"If we lose those markets, someone else will fill the void. It allows our competitors to expand." Still, he said he understood the position of growers in other states. "I certainly don't begrudge other citrus areas trying to protect themselves," Falk said.

Bob Blakely, director of grower services for California Citrus Mutual, an association of citrus growers, hailed the USDA decision. He said his group had called on the USDA to quarantine Florida.

"We're pleased the USDA has taken a prudent approach," he said. "It's a real big deal for us because our industry is totally dependant on its ability to ship fresh product." The USDA decision comes as no surprise to Florida officials, who have been in discussion with the agency for months on how best to control the spread of canker.

Bronson had proposed an inspection program that he said would have prevented the shipment of either infected fruit or fruit coming from infected groves to citrus-producing regions.

Bronson said he will talk with Florida citrus leaders to determine how best to contest the USDA decision.

Once the quarantine is put in place, the USDA collects comments on it and presumably could reverse itself, Rogers said.

He declined to say what might prompt a reversal, though Florida citrus leaders presume it would take the elimination of canker from state groves.

Terry McElroy, a spokesman for Bronson's office, said he hopes the decision will have no impact on Florida's major fresh-market trading partners overseas, such as Japan.

"But I guess that remains to be seen," McElroy said. "We really think what the USDA has done is onerous and too much."

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Source: St. Petersburg Times

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