US: Business as usual for Florida citrus growers
Ben Doster, Manager at a local citrus packing and juicing house thinks this will be a temporary blip in the public consciousness. He says the industry's faced health scares before, but they've always been short-lived. "I'm not too worried yet," says Doster. "I think it'll come and go. It'll ebb and flow." Bill Raffety, an analyst at Penson Futures in New York, says "This has caused a tremendous amount of volatility. Raffety says the scare caused orange juice futures first to soar, then to crash. "The market moved 20 cents yesterday, which is a huge move," he says. "I mean, a freeze would cause a move like this.” Orange growers are scared to talk about this as well. We asked several to comment for this story, but all refused, saying they don’t want to create unnecessary panic.
Andrew Meadows, spokesman for the growers association Florida Citrus Mutual, says he’s not surprised. "You know, it is frustrating for us," says Meadows. "Our regulators, the FDA has determined that this juice is 100 percent safe. It’s business as usual in our industry and we’re still producing a wholesome, healthy product.” Citrus remains one of Florida’s biggest industries. Meadows says it generated $9 billion in revenues and employed 76,000 people last year. But it’s shrunk in recent years because of external competition and internal problems. "You know, we’re facing challenges," he says. "We just had a cold patch last week. We’re fighting a disease called citrus greening right now. So you really get a challenging industry when you’re involved in agriculture.And dealing with scares like this are just one of those challenges.
Source: wusf.usf.edu