Citrus Industry

Florida orange growers and juice makers asked the federal government Monday to impose tariffs on Brazilian processors, accusing them of selling orange juice in the U.S. at unfair prices. The Florida growers and processors also asked the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department to conduct an investigation into the pricing practices of four juice producers. The agencies are likely to make a decision in the coming months.

At this time of year, Philip C. "Flip" Gates Jr.'s long rows of grapefruit trees should be heavy with ripe fruit, and enshrouded with so many leaves that their canopies are verdantly opaque. But for citrus growers in Florida, this was hardly an ordinary year. Of the four hurricanes to plow into the state in 2004, three tore through areas of major citrus production, lashing trees with high winds and heavy rains, stripping fruit and leaves from boughs, damaging limbs and soaking roots.

Florida will have the smallest orange crop in a decade after a series of hurricanes blew fruit off trees and flooded groves in the state, a federal forecast shows. The state's grapefruit crop will be down by nearly two-thirds from last season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Florida produces 75% of the nation's citrus.

The bronze plaque tells the tale: "The most valuable fruit introduction yet made by the United States Department of Agriculture." And there, at Magnolia and Arlington avenues in Riverside, stands the last of California's original Washington navel orange trees, enclosed by an iron fence, looming over the plaque in the summer sun.

The rotund, early ripening Hamlins and the yellowish, elongated Pineapples have all been picked. Soon it will be the Valencias' turn, and Mason G. Smoak plucks one of the smooth-skinned fruit from the tree and opens it with a serrated knife to see if it's ready. The orange, which gleams in the morning sun, is gorged with juice, and droplets explode into the air as Smoak cuts into the rind.

The last thing the citrus farmers assembled in Ventura needed to hear was another reminder about America's love affair with high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets. That's just what they got from the senior vice president from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., who gave the keynote speech Wednesday at Sunkist Growers Inc.'s annual meeting. "Five years ago, it was fruits and vegetables, five times a day -- but now it's all bacon and eggs," said Bruce Peterson, who heads Wal-Mart's perishable-food division.

Nearly a century ago, a copywriter working for ad agency Lord & Thomas dreamed up the name "Sunkissed" for a campaign promoting California oranges and lemons to shoppers back East. The moniker soon was changed to Sunkist, but the image has remained: the bright sun splashing over the Golden State's fertile citrus groves. Now, Sunkist Growers Inc. is taking a radical turn.

At the Villa Park Orchards packinghouse in Orange, time moves with the seasons. March heralds the arrival of the year's Valencia oranges. Grapefruit begins to show up in May. November means navels. Orange County in the late 1940s boasted more than 65,000 acres of orange groves and about four dozen packing plants. Today, it's easier to find an orange tree at Home Depot than one of the county's small, remaining orchards. And only one packinghouse survives.

Reeling from seasons of little or no profit, California growers have taken at least 10,000 acres of Valencia oranges out of production in the past year, a move that farm leaders say has resulted in scores of layoffs and millions of dollars in lost revenue for the struggling industry.

The images evoke a simpler era, a time when citrus was king and the push was on to sell a slice of sunny, exotic California to the outside world. And so the citrus labels, soon to go on display at the Ventura County Museum of History & Art, explode in vibrant colors, depicting seascapes and mountain vistas, wide open freeways and rosy-cheeked pinup girls. "The rest of the country didn't know about citrus," said Pattie Dix, the museum's community relations director.