Calif. citrus growers sue over Florida orange quarantine

Calif. citrus growers sue over Florida orange quarantine California citrus growers faced off Tuesday with Florida agricultural officials in a Tallahassee courtroom, hoping to block a Florida quarantine on California oranges.
   The Florida quarantine was called Dec. 7 over cases of Septoria citri, and requires every container of California citrus to be inspected, fumigated and stamped with a state-authorized certificate. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies the Septoria fungus as a disease of “minor significance” to citrus crops.
   Judicial Circuit Court Judge William L. Gary is expected to rule today on the California growers' request for an injunction to block the quarantine. California growers claim the two-week-old quarantine is retaliation for a federal ban on Florida oranges moving into California due to the highly infectious citrus canker disease.
   Florida officials counter they are simply taking precautions to prevent yet another disease from reaching their citrus groves. Florida citrus farms are already facing outbreaks of citrus canker, greening disease and leaf miner.
   The quarantine has idled thousands of trucks, which normally ship the citrus to Florida. California ships nearly $75 million worth of citrus, or 7,000 truckloads, to Florida each year. Florida imports about 90 percent of its fresh oranges because most of its annual crop is crushed into juice.
   California growers have as yet been unable to meet the requirements of the Florida quarantine, and the solution may not be found before the end of the growing season.
   Because truckers typically deliver to more than one state along the trip to Florida, the full containerload will have to be fumigated at the start of their trip. Growers say this will raise costs, require more trips and drive up prices. ' Keith Higginbotham