Canker rule for the last time

I just talked to Joel Nelsen who said experts in California were attempting to work their way through the proposed rule for the shipment of Florida citrus from regions that have citrus canker to non citrus states. Nelsen all but said that stakeholders may be compelled to ask for more time to evaluate the proposed rule. He noted that rule may be the last time to consider the safeguards in place for citrus shipped from canker infested regions to the U.S. market.

Along that line, I talked with one lobbyist for Argentina's lemon growers/exporters in northwest Argentina, and he said that a pest risk assessment may be published by the USDA in the next six to eight weeks relating to Argentina lemon exports to the U.S. After that, the source speculated that rulemaking on a proposal that could allow Argentina lemons to the U.S. could begin in late winter or early spring.