2017 Citrus Showcase on Thursday

Several topics to be covered

California Citrus Mutual will host the 2017 Citrus Showcase Thursday at the Visalia Convention Center.

The showcase is the largest citrus specific conference and trade show in California. It features multiple educational workshops, a trade show of over 100 exhibitors, and a popular luncheon program.

The theme of this year’s Citrus Showcase is “Bringing the citrus industry together.” A united industry will overcome the challenges ahead. It is CCM’S mission to be the unifying body and a leader against oppressive regulations that reduce growers’ bottom lines, said CCM in a press release.

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. and the first workshop begins at 8 a.m. There is no cost to attend the Showcase. Lunch tickets can be purchased for $30 per person by contacting California Citrus Mutual at (559) 592-3790. Reserved tables of 8 and 10 are available.

Shippers and growers concerned about the limited number of options for treating and moving citrus from one ACP Quarantine area to another will be interested in the promising data that will be presented during the afternoon workshop at the CCM Citrus Showcase.

Spencer Walse, USDA ARS, has been administering trials treating fruit for ACP in bins on the truck and has been seeing very positive results. This work could result in a practical, in-field treatment to kill ACP in bins on the truck before the truck leaves the field.

Walse will be reporting on the results of these trials and there will be a display set up outside the exhibit hall for a mock demonstration showing how this application could be done.

Other workshop topics include: Farming a Way Through California’s Groundwater Maze; Developing Genome Targeting Technology for Precise DNA Modification; First Line of Defense; Protecting the California Citrus Industry from Invasive Pests at the Ports of Entry and Boards and in the afternoon, Are we Winning, An Evaluation of Industry Efforts to Stop HLB.

This year’s luncheon program will feature a panelist of CEOS from some of the industry’s largest marketing firms. Beesweet President Jim Marderosian, The Wonderful Company CEO David Krause, Sunkist President Russ Hanlin, and Sun Pacific CEO Berne Evans will be on the dais discussing dynamics affecting per-acre revenues.

CCM President Joel Nelsen will serve as panel moderator and has promised the foursome no “gotcha questions,” but the conversation will certainly focus on specific topics relative to California citrus in the global marketplace. Some of the topics will include:

Can they create revenue for growers sufficient enough to cover the massive increase in government imposed costs?

Is there a future for the family farmer in their organization, or is consolidation the future?

Why are they acquiescing to the plethora of audits?

Can navel oranges and mandarin varieties co-exist in the market place?

How will Argentine lemon imports affect lemon producers?

There will also be a trade show as part of the Showcase.

The Citrus Showcase is hosted by California Citrus Mutual.