{"id":21932,"date":"2025-02-25T09:49:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T09:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=21932"},"modified":"2025-02-25T09:50:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T09:50:32","slug":"florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Republican Congressmen Daniel Webster and Greg Steube of Florida (Fla) have reintroduced the Citrus Protection Act to restrict commercial imports from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As representative of The Villages in central Fla, Webster aims to put local agriculture first and stamp out foreign dependancy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill graced the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/webster.house.gov\/_cache\/files\/1\/5\/15abc407-60b5-4c5c-8ddf-4048e33c5c8a\/6D85B50F9966F10409067758A3541179.us-citrus-protection-act.pdf\"><u>119<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress&#8217; 1st session<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in Washington D.C. on February 18, 2025 and might implement 90 days after enactment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steube, who oversaw the bill\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/house-bill\/2536\/text\"><u>last reintroduction<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;on April 6, 2023, labeled imports from China as pest-laden and a farmers\u2019 threat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The senator said that state growers are a \u201ccornerstone\u201d of American farming and deserve trade protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added &nbsp;that grocers in the United States ought to stock oranges, tangerines and grapefruits from local sources only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is happening when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/01\/17\/florida-to-produce-20-5-million-orange-boxes-in-january-2024\/\"><u>orange production in Fla<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;is on a downward trend even as China\u2019s has been picking pace.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-china-s-citrus-production-expanding\"><strong>China\u2019s Citrus Production Expanding<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As the world\u2019s biggest citrus grower, China expects to continue a five-year consecutive production increase in the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts production at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.fas.usda.gov\/newgainapi\/api\/Report\/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Citrus%20Annual_Guangzhou%20ATO_China%20-%20People%27s%20Republic%20of_CH2024-0176.pdf\"><u>7.62 million tonnes<\/u><\/a>, mirroring the 7.63 million tonnes of the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This will clinch a perfect production run that doubled from 31.96 million tonnes in 2013 to 64.34 million tonnes in 2023.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worryingly for the U.S.\u2019 citrus sector, USDA foresees the 2024-25 export margins by China improving annually by 5,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-production-woes-in-fla\"><strong>Production Woes in Fla.<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With such a formidable trade foe, representatives in Florida have a reason to offer protection as local production is slumping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Fox 29, Florida\u2019s orange production will fall to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wflx.com\/2025\/02\/11\/florida-citrus-growers-urge-lawmakers-take-action-industry-declines\/\"><u>11 million boxes<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;in 2025 while grapefruit will be 1.2 million boxes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This marks a 90-percent harvest downfall from the 1998 high of 244 million orange boxes, from greening fungus&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/10\/14\/citrus-in-florida-was-sunshiny-before-hurricane-milton-struck\/\"><u>and hurricanes<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is therefore fitting that senators should intervene to save the agricultural \u201cDNA\u201d of the Sunshine State. &nbsp;To learn more on the state\u2019s citrus policy highlights, scour the statistics, next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-florida-citrus-policy-statistics\"><strong>Florida Citrus Policy Statistics&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since losing its federal citrus production leader crown in the 2022-23 season with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nass.usda.gov\/Statistics_by_State\/Florida\/Publications\/Citrus\/Citrus_Forecast\/2022-23\/cit1222a.pdf\"><u>20 million boxes<\/u><\/a>, Florida has been courting policy improvements. As of February 2025, only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.wgcu.org\/agriculture\/2025-02-04\/floridas-troubled-citrus-industry-looks-to-lawmakers-for-help\"><u>1500 citrus farmers<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;were active in a state famed as the juicing capital of the U.S. &nbsp;Here is a look at the most recent policies up to, and beyond, the 2022-23 decline:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1875:&nbsp;<\/em>while the state of Florida was still young (having joined the U.S. in 1821), the citrus industry was growing. In 1875,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dos.fl.gov\/historical\/museums\/historical-museums\/united-connections\/foodways\/food-cultivation-and-economies\/the-citrus-industry-in-florida\/\"><u>E.B. Bean&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>created a packing revolution with his 90-pound citrus crate, which stayed put into the 1930s.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1911-25:<\/em>&nbsp;Citrus Maturity Laws comes for Florida growers, which made it a crime to market green fruits locally or abroad. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would begin its initial inspection drives of groves in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/about-florida-citrus\/our-history\/continued-growth\/\"><u>1925<\/u><\/a>, further leading to the industry\u2019s accountability.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1945-1960:<\/em>&nbsp;policy shifted from support of family growers to corporates from World War II, onward. As juice concentrate business grew by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dos.fl.gov\/historical\/museums\/historical-museums\/united-connections\/foodways\/food-cultivation-and-economies\/the-citrus-industry-in-florida\/\"><u>120%<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;in these 15 years, most orange groves expanded to average 100 acres. Some had even over 5,000 acres, meaning most growers from that date on were large-scale farmers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>2025<\/em>: after the storms and greening disease led to production decline in 2023, financial policy keyed in. For one, in February 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis tabled a<a href=\"https:\/\/news.wgcu.org\/agriculture\/2025-02-04\/floridas-troubled-citrus-industry-looks-to-lawmakers-for-help\"><u>&nbsp;$20-million<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;citrus research budget proposal. &nbsp;If approved, it could join the 2025-26 fiscal budget for citrus &nbsp;of $47 million, starting June 30.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Congressmen Daniel Webster and Greg Steube of Florida (Fla) have reintroduced the Citrus Protection Act to restrict commercial imports from China. As representative of The Villages in central Fla, Webster aims to put local agriculture first and stamp out foreign dependancy.&nbsp; The bill graced the\u00a0119th\u00a0Congress&#8217; 1st session\u00a0in Washington D.C. on February 18, 2025 and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Republican Congressmen Daniel Webster and Greg Steube of Florida (Fla) have reintroduced the Citrus Protection Act to restrict commercial imports from China. As representative of The Villages in central Fla, Webster aims to put local agriculture first and stamp out foreign dependancy.&nbsp; The bill graced the\u00a0119th\u00a0Congress&#8217; 1st session\u00a0in Washington D.C. on February 18, 2025 and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T09:49:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T09:50:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grapefruit.ebola_.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Timothy Wahome\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Timothy Wahome\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/\",\"name\":\"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-25T09:49:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-25T09:50:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\",\"description\":\"Discover the Latest in Food and Agriculture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8\",\"name\":\"Timothy Wahome\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Timothy Wahome\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/author\/twt4wahomegmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/25\/florida-relaunches-the-citrus-protection-act-against-china\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Florida relaunches the Citrus Protection Act against China - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News","og_description":"Republican Congressmen Daniel Webster and Greg Steube of Florida (Fla) have reintroduced the Citrus Protection Act to restrict commercial imports from China. 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