Family feud

The U.S. citrus industry can typically close ranks pretty well, but the recent dispute between the Florida Department of Agriculture and California citrus interests is not a case in point. Cal of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group posts a letter from the Florida Department of Agriculture to Florida receivers and distributors of California origin citrus, mailed out Dec. 3, and a retort letter from Sunkist to its citrus customers in Florida. The Florida Dept. of Ag letter, from Richard Gaskalla of the Division of Plant Industry, states that citrus fruit from citrus areas in California will be denied entry into Florida beginning Dec. 7 unless accompanied by a certificate that says the fruit was inspected and found to be apparently free of the pest. Gaskalla calls the fungal pest an "unwanted citrus pathogen" similar in many respects to citrus canker lesions.

Meanwhile, the Sunkist letter, mailed Dec. 5 to its Florida customers, says Florida's requirements are "basically impossible" and will make it exceedingly difficult for Sunkist or any other California shipper to do business in the state of Florida. Sunkist calls on its receivers to call the Florida Department of Agriculture and object to the protocol.

Meanwhile, The Packer's Don Schrack reports:

A judge likely will serve as referee in the escalating California-Florida feud over the shipping of the Golden State’s fresh citrus to the Sunshine State.

California Citrus Mutual, Exeter, and other members of the state’s citrus industry retained a Florida law firm, said Joel Nelsen, president of Citrus Mutual. The attorneys planned to file suit Dec. 6 in Tallahassee, Fla., seeking a restraining order against the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, he said.

Nelsen said other California-based plaintiffs in the suit are Sunkist Growers Inc., Sherman Oaks; Pro*Act, Monterey; and Corona-College Heights Orange & Lemon Association, Riverside. Nelsen said Dec. 6 that the list of plaintiffs could grow before the suit was filed.

The dispute erupted in early November when the Florida state agency notified its counterpart, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, that effective Dec. 1 all California fresh citrus shipped to Florida would have to be inspected for Septoria citri, a fungus found in two California counties. That deadline was pushed back to Dec. 7.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies septoria as a nonactionable pest.

Emotions escalated in California when citrus industry officials learned their Florida counterparts had no input on the decision.