September 29, 2017
CapitalPress.com
California
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Florida’s
citrus hit
from Irma
unlikely to
impact Calif.
growers
CDFA approves dairy quota plan
Consumers may
see more imported
juice, official says
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
EXETER, Calif. — The
further devastation of Flori-
da’s citrus industry by Hur-
ricane Irma might increase
prices for California fruit
that’s diverted to juice, but its
overall impact will be mini-
mal, an industry insider says.
That’s because the prices
growers in the Golden State
receive for their fresh orang-
es, lemons and other citrus
are already much higher than
those paid for fruit headed to
the juicer, said Bob Blakely,
vice president of California
Citrus Mutual.
Fresh citrus nets the grow-
er between $17 and $20 for
each 40-pound carton, while
oranges diverted to juice
get about $185 a ton, which
equates to about $3.70 for 40
pounds, Blakely said.
“The juice price is doing
better than it used to,” he said.
“We used to say if we could
get back our picking and haul-
ing costs, we’ve done well.”
In a given year, 10 to 20
percent of navels, Valencias
and other citrus fruit from
California groves is deemed
unfit for the fresh market
because of blemishes and
set aside for juice, which en-
ables the grower to recoup
at least some return for the
rejected fruit.
But Florida’s industry is
centered on juice, as its cli-
mate is conducive to high
sugar content and high qual-
ity juice fruit that Califor-
nia couldn’t match, Blakely
said.
Hurricane Irma earlier this
month caused major tree dam-
age, including uprooted trees
across the middle of Florida
and in its southwest corner,
where some growers lost
nearly all their fruit, accord-
ing to industry officials.
The devastation from the
deadly tree disease huan-
glongbing has already caused
Florida to fall behind Califor-
nia in total citrus production
for the first time in decades.
Florida’s 454,973 citrus acres
is the lowest since at least
1966, according to the Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service.
Florida’s citrus production
in 2016-17 was 78.1 million
90-pound boxes, down 17
percent from the previous
season’s 94.3 million boxes,
NASS reported. With har-
vests there set to begin in No-
vember, yields promise to be
much lighter than the industry
had expected.
“It’s just unfortunate,”
Blakely said. “They already
had a short crop because of
HLB, then they get this hurri-
cane. I’m hearing reports that
... 40 percent of the entire crop
was lost to the hurricane.”
The futures market for
juice has gone up, continuing
a trend of higher juice pric-
es over the last several years
amid shorter supplies in Flori-
da, Blakely said.
But Florida’s woes won’t
prompt more California grow-
ers to begin juicing, nor will
it likely entice Florida pro-
ducers or processors to come
West, he said.
“Our regulatory costs and
costs of production are just
too high,” he said.
“We’re a fresh market in-
dustry and that’s not going
to affect our growers’ deci-
sion-making at all. There are
different countries that will
supply that juice before Cali-
fornia does.
“What we’re probably go-
ing to see is more imported
orange juice before we see
any other juice produced in
the United States,” he said.
9
Farmers soon will
be asked to vote
on proposal, which
is similar to state’s
current system
Capital Press
California dairy farmers
will soon vote on a stand-
alone quota program to be
administered by the state
if they also vote to join the
federal milk marketing or-
der system.
The state’s secretary of
agriculture on Monday ap-
proved the program as rec-
ommended by the producer
review board tasked with
developing a plan.
Ballots on the quota plan
will be mailed to eligible
producers in the first two
weeks of October. Produc-
ers have 60 days to vote and
return their ballots.
Results will be published
after the referendum is cer-
tified.
The plan will pass if 65
percent of producers rep-
resenting 51 percent of the
milk or 51 percent of pro-
ducers representing 65 per-
cent of the milk vote yes.
The Quota Implemen-
tation Plan would continue
the long-standing, produc-
er-funded program that now
operates within the state’s
marketing order. Producers
have been adamant that the
quota value must be main-
tained if they join the feder-
al order system.
Quota programs don’t
exist in the federal order
system, but a provision in
the last farm bill and USDA
will allow the state to ad-
minister its program outside
the federal system.
California’s quota sys-
tem came about in the late
1960s as a means of com-
pensating milk producers
selling into the higher Class
I market and gain their sup-
port for establishing a state
marketing order.
The program was used
to pool milk and distribute
payments more evenly to
producers of milk across all
utilizations.
It pays quota certificate
holders $1.70 per hundred-
weight above the state blend
price for the amount of milk
covered by their certificate.
Those certificates are
worth $1.2 billion and can
be transferred or sold.
Maintaining quota value
is a critical piece in the pro-
cess of establishing a feder-
al order for California, said
Lynne McBride, executive
director of the California
Dairy Campaign.
Quota is unique to Cal-
ifornia and important to
producers, she said, adding
that the CDC commends
Online
For more information, visit:
http://bit.ly/2wOOVvb
the producer review board
for its open, transparent and
participatory process in de-
veloping a stand-alone pro-
gram that would continue to
operate.
“We see this as a really
important step toward a fed-
eral order. We’re definitely
urging California producers
to vote ‘yes’ on this,” she
said.
The program would con-
tinue to be operated by the
state, and quota will still
be transferable, able to be
bought and sold and pay a
premium, said Geoff Vanden
Heuvel, a Chino dairy pro-
ducer and Milk Producers
Council board member and
economic consultant.
“I think the producer re-
view board did a really good
job. Their task was to pro-
tect the value of quota, and
I think they accomplished
that,” he said.
All grade A milk pro-
duced in the state will be as-
sessed at an estimated 35 to
37 cents per hundredweight
to generate about $12 mil-
lion a month needed to fund
the quotas, he said.
The plan, which will now
go to a producer vote, is
much the same as the current
program.
Capital Press File
Cows lounge at VanderWoude Dairy near Merced, Calif. Dairy
farmers will soon vote on a plan to maintain the California quota
system even if they switch to a federal milk marketing order.
The major difference is
that producers will be direct-
ly assessed and see a deduc-
tion on their milk check.
The current program is
funded by the milk pool
and producers are not
directly assessed.
The other significant
change is that the state’s four
producer handlers will now
be assessed on milk that has
been exempt from the milk
pool.
Associations provide recall liability insurance for produce growers
IRVINE, Calif. — United Fresh
Produce Association and Western
Growers are offering what they say
is the first-of-its-kind recall liability
insurance.
Under terms of a marketing agree-
ment, United Fresh will exclusively
endorse and promote Western Grow-
ers Shield, proprietary insurance en-
compassing property, contamination,
recall, liability and non-physical
damage loss of income.
Tom Stenzel, United Fresh presi-
dent and CEO, said the program is an
innovative solution to a critical bot-
tom line issue facing its members and
that Washington, D.C.-based United
Fresh looks forward to bringing the
program to every segment of the fresh
produce supply chain.
“United Fresh and Western Grow-
ers have a long history of working
California Department of Water Resources
The Delta Cross Channel, between the towns of Locke and
Walnut Grove. California water officials plan to restore the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, in part by building two 30-mile
underground tunnels to ensure stable water delivery to millions
of Californians, but that plan faces opposition.
together to promote the competitive-
ness and profitability of the fresh
produce industry,” said Tom Nassif,
Western Growers president and CEO.
United Fresh reaches into states
not served by Western Growers, he
said. The associations are working on
other proprietary solutions for the in-
dustry, he said.
United Fresh, founded in 1904,
represents every segment of the fresh
produce supply chain, including
growers, shippers, processors, whole-
salers, distributors and retailers.
Western Growers, founded in
1926, represents fresh produce grow-
ers in Arizona, California, Colorado
and New Mexico. Members provide
half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegeta-
bles and tree nuts, including half of
the organic produce.
— Dan Wheat
DID YOU KNOW?
FACT:
New fight breaks out
in California water wars
• There is new stabilized dry granular NITRATE form of
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ELLEN KNICKMEYER
• SAN 30-6 has 30% nitrogen and 6% Phosphate.
Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. — In
California’s
long-raging
water wars, pitting north
against south and farmer
against city dweller, the one
thing everybody agreed on
Sept. 20 was that the outdat-
ed method of shipping water
throughout the state needs a
serious upgrade.
A group of influential
California farmers shook up
the debate Sept. 19, backing
out of Gov. Jerry Brown’s
$16 billion plan to build
two massive water tunnels,
re-engineering the delivery
system. Westlands Water
District in Fresno said it
was too expensive and came
with too few guarantees.
Brown’s administration,
however, gave no sign of
giving up. Other key water
districts serving vast farm-
land in the most productive
agricultural state and mil-
lions of residents still have
to weigh in, including the
Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California.
“I don’t think a ‘no’ vote
is the end of the story,” said
Metropolitan’s general man-
ager, Jeffrey Kightlinger.
“We don’t live in a world
where we can just turn off
the projects and walk away.”
The proposed 30-mile-
long tunnels, however, can’t
survive as it’s drawn up now
without “big players,” such
as Westlands, said Kight-
linger.
Current plans call for
building twin tunnels east
of San Francisco to deliver
water from the Sacramen-
to River to farms and cities
hundreds of miles away in
central and southern Cali-
fornia.
Backers say the tunnels
will stabilize flows, save
endangered fish species and
ensure a reliable water sup-
ply. However, critics say it
will be used to drain North-
ern California dry and fur-
ther harm native fish.
It is California’s most
ambitious water project in
more than 50 years, when
state and federal officials
launched a campaign to
win support for building
the current system of reser-
voirs, pumping stations and
canals.
Westlands farmers last
week became the first of
several large water districts
to vote, pulling out after
having spent millions over
more than a decade on draw-
ing up plans and calculating
costs.
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