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Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Citrus”
The Florida Citrus Commission (FCC) held an emergency meeting on September 14 in response to a request for emergency rulemaking from the Florida Citrus Packers Association to approve rule 20ER17-2, addressing the Soluble Solids to Anhydrous Citrus Acid Maturity Standards for grapefruit and oranges for the 2017-18 season. The following emergency rule passed unanimously by the FCC: 20ER17-2 Grapefruit and Orange …
Unfortunately, Florida citrus did not fare well in Hurricane Irma. Lisa Lochridge, public affairs director for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, says from the reports that she has received, the largest produce impact was on the citrus industry. Hurricane Irma brought strong winds that stripped the fruit from many trees and caused major crop loss. Lochridge says uprooted trees …
Ron Hamel, Gulf Citrus Growers Association executive vice president, says it has been difficult to reach area growers in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma due to the lack of power. At this point, he says, people are busy assessing the damage to the citrus crop and trying to get standing water out of groves. Hamel says Collier and Hendry county …
Unfortunately, Florida citrus growers are having to prepare for Hurricane Irma, which at this point looks like it will impact the Sunshine State. Mongi Zekri, the multi-county citrus agent in the Hendry County Extension office in LaBelle, says this is especially troubling with harvest just around the corner. Hear more: Read a recent Citrus Industry magazine article by Mongi Zekri, …
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is in Florida this week, where he attended Citrus Expo at the Lee Civic Center in North Fort Myers. While in the state, he has been able to learn firsthand about efforts to combat citrus greening. Hear more from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Stephanie Ho: Sponsored ContentA Simpler, Safer and More Effective Way to …
The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) and Bayer CropScience announced a new partnership at Citrus Expo. In an effort to discover new technologies to manage citrus greening disease, CRDF will invest $12 million with Bayer over a three-year period. Bayer will focus on product research and development of both biological and chemical controls. Adrian Percy, head of research and …
Amid continuing struggles in Florida’s citrus industry, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will appear Wednesday at the Citrus Expo in Fort Myers. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., are expected to join Perdue, according to Putnam’s office and the Citrus Expo website. Perdue’s visit comes as the industry continues to deal with deadly citrus …
Nominations are now being sought for potential inductees to the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies are scheduled to take place on Friday, March 9, 2018, at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. The luncheon is co-sponsored by Florida Citrus Mutual and the Florida Department of Citrus. Eligible nominees are those distinguished leaders who have made significant contributions to the …
By Harold Browning Column sponsored by the Citrus Research and Development Foundation As we start the new fiscal year at the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), there are a number of priority activities in place to focus effort and resources on important tools for managing citrus in the presence of HLB. Here are some highlights. Currently, CRDF is sponsoring …
Even when Matt Mattia was studying tomato breeding as a master’s student at the University of Florida (UF), he was dreaming of citrus. Now a doctoral student at UF, he’s working toward achieving that dream of working in one of Florida’s most important industries. Thanks to the Hunt Brothers Fellowship, which funds graduate research in citrus, Mattia can live, work …
By Hassan Farouk Ahmed Morocco’s citrus production reached 2.3 million metric tons (MT) in 2016–17, an increase of 15 percent over the previous marketing year. Orange production increased by 4 percent, to 962,250 MT, while tangerine and mandarin production increased 24 percent to 1,325,246 MT. Much of the increase in production was due to increases in the area harvested, as …
From News Service of Florida Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, will not receive a raise under a new contract approved Wednesday. The Florida Citrus Commission unanimously approved the deal, which alters Shepp’s severance package. The package initially would have given her the equivalent of 20 weeks’ pay if she was let go. Instead, Shepp will …
By Reza Ehsani, Azadeh Alizadeh and Davie Kadyampakeni Many scientists in Florida and other parts of the world are working hard to find a treatment for citrus greening and frequently conducting field trials to evaluate the effectiveness of their treatments. Monitoring plant physiological factors, yield and fruit quality are usually among the factors that they need to assess tree health. …
by Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida Despite clear frustrations of some justices, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday declined to invalidate Gov. Rick Scott’s veto of $37.4 million that lawmakers approved to compensate homeowners whose healthy citrus trees were cut down by the state more than a decade ago. The ruling pointed to circuit court cases in Broward and …
by Jim Turner, News Service of Florida The final forecast of the 2016-2017 season for Florida’s struggling citrus industry shows the orange crop falling 16 percent from the previous season — which, itself, had been at a five-decades low. And after a season of severe drought, combined with the continued fight against a deadly citrus disease and the expansion of …
Candi Erick, the agricultural statistics administrator with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Florida Agricultural Statistics Service, reports the final citrus crop forecast of the 2016-17 season. The United States all-orange forecast for the 2016-2017 season is down 2 percent from last month and down 17 percent from last season’s final utilization. The 2016-2017 Florida all-orange forecast released …
By Arnold Schumann and Laura Waldo Florida citrus trees may require irrigation throughout the year due to the extremely sandy soils with low water-holding capacities and the warm subtropical climate with distinct drought periods in spring. Citrus trees are evergreen and may be actively growing at any time, with no true dormant phase. HLB-affected trees are particularly prone to multiple …
Various comments on many areas of agriculture were given during the first farm bill listening session hosted by the House Agriculture Committee recently in Gainesville, Florida. Among those who shared comments was John Barben, a fifth-generation citrus grower from Highlands County. He talked to committee members about citrus diseases. Hear his comments. Sponsored ContentA Simpler, Safer and More Effective …
By Ernie Neff Even Nostradamus would have struggled to predict a career path for a 25-year-old Fred Gmitter. Gmitter had quit college after three years at Rutgers University, where he studied English literature with plans to teach. He said he “became completely disillusioned” with that plan. He married, worked as a delivery truck driver and warehouse laborer, and traveled out …
Sponsored Content A Florida company may hold the key to protecting the world’s young citrus plantings until a permanent solution for the devastating citrus greening disease (HLB) can be found. Widespread devastation from citrus greening has caused billions of dollars in lost revenue and killed over 100 million citrus trees worldwide. Although there appears to be no end in sight, …
