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September 15, 2017 Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters CapitalPress.com 11 California Disease puts Florida citrus production behind that of California Table olives’ high yields offset by rising costs By TIM HEARDEN By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — The devastation of the deadly tree disease huanglongbing has caused Florida to fall behind California in total citrus pro- duction for the first time in decades. The Golden State produced 3.9 million tons of citrus fruit in the 2016-2017 season com- pared to 3.5 million tons from Florida, according to a Na- tional Agricultural Statistics Service report. Florida’s 410,700 bear- ing acres still tops Califor- nia, which grows citrus on 268,500 acres. But Florida’s yields have fallen dramatical- ly from the 500 million tons the state produced just two years ago. California’s ascension comes as huanglongbing, or citrus greening, has slammed the citrus industry in the U.S. southeast, causing an average loss of 7,513 jobs per year and costing growers nearly $3 bil- lion in revenue, the University of Florida has estimated. “It’s devastating because it just points out how disastrous HLB is,” said Bob Blake- ly, vice president of the Ex- eter-based California Citrus Mutual. He noted that Florida had been approaching 1 mil- lion acres of citrus before the disease hit. “They’ve lost over half of their citrus production, and most of that was lost in the last eight years to HLB,” Blakely said. Fresh production in Florida has declined 83 percent since the 1995-96 season while total citrus production has declined 74 percent, Citrus Mutual ex- plains on its website. When HLB was first dis- covered in 2005, growers at first thought grapefruit would be more tolerant of the disease than other citrus varieties, but grapefruit groves eventually succumbed, too, the organiza- tion notes. “They’re on the verge of not even being able to produce enough fruit to maintain their infrastructure,” Blakely said. “They have plants closing and packing houses closing. It certainly concerns us that that could happen in California if we can’t control this disease.” Only 26 packing houses in Florida boxed up fresh citrus last year, and four of them have announced they will close. Just 22 years ago, the state had 65 packing hous- es that shipped more than 150,000 cartons each, CCM explained. While it does not harm hu- mans, huanglongbing is fatal to citrus trees and has no cure. The disease has been detected in more than 70 citrus trees in Southern California urban areas, but the disease has not yet migrated into the Golden State’s commercial groves. California is seeking to slow the spread of the disease to buy time for research. A quarantine covers about one- third of California, and Gov. Jerry Brown signed a budget in June that includes $10 mil- lion from the general fund for the state’s Citrus Pest and Dis- ease Prevention Program. The allocation follows legislation this year that will enable the citrus industry to increase its 9-cent assessment to support the program. Growers have invested more than $100 million into the program since 2009, ac- cording to Citrus Mutual. Most of that money has gone to trapping, treatments and surveys in urban areas to stop the spread of the Asian citrus psyllid, which can carry huan- glongbing. The industry has devot- ed $15 million toward HLB research and education, in- cluding $8 million from the grower-funded California Cit- rus Research Foundation to construct a biosecurity-level 3 lab near the University of Cal- ifornia-Riverside. Labor costs and increased global competition are frustrating for growers Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Table olive growers in California expect an abun- dant crop and good prices, but the industry is still frustrated by rising production costs and increased global competition. This year’s anticipated 73,000-ton crop would be up 9 percent from last year’s 67,100-ton crop, according to a National Agricultural Statistics Ser- vice survey. Bearing acreage is estimated at 19,000, which results in a yield of 3.84 tons per acre, NASS reports. “It looks like it’s going to be a bet- ter crop than normal,” said Adin Hes- ter, president of the Cloverdale-based Olive Growers Council of California. “It could be a little bit higher than we expected.” Hester said prices to growers will likely be a little less than last year’s average of about $1,100 per ton, which was near an all-time high. However, production costs this past year were above $2,000 per acre, Tim Hearden/Capital Press File This year’s table olive crop in California is expected to be slightly larger than last year, but rising labor costs and increased global competition frustrate growers. which includes harvesting costs of between $450 and $550 per ton, he said. With the lingering labor shortage, some growers may need to boost their harvest costs even further, Hester said. Another issue, Hester said, is that domestic table olives are being under- cut by cheaper, subsidized Spanish olives that have flooded the market- place. Black, sliced olives from Spain have practically taken over the food service sector, as they are used on ev- erything from pizzas to buffet bars, he said. “When you look at the acreage difference, Spain’s got five and a half million acres of olives” including oil olives, Hester said. “Now they’re matching us ton for ton.” The table olive industry is urging the U.S. Commerce Department to consider placing duties on Spanish olives, he said. In the orchards, this is an “on” year for the alternate-bearing trees, which bore about 78,000 tons in 2015. Favorable temperatures and in- creased rainfall improved growing conditions this year, as a cold January and February led to good floral devel- opment with a high bloom and ade- quate pollen, NASS reported. Some growers were concerned that high temperatures during the summer bloom could reduce the set, according to NASS. But the crop portends a third sea- son of relative stability for a com- modity whose yields saw wild ups and downs in recent years, peaking at a record 170,000 tons in 2010 but coming in below 40,000 tons four times since 2006. The last time was in 2014, when freezes and a lack of water led to yields of only 37,120 tons. The uncertainty prompted many growers to switch to more lucra- tive nuts or navel oranges, bringing acreage down from a peak of 38,000 about a decade ago. However, this year’s project- ed bearing acreage is even with last year’s and up slightly from the rough- ly 18,000 acres of table olives grown in 2015. NASS established this year’s forecast based on reports from 142 growers around the state, the agency reported. 37-1/102