At the annual meeting in February, Sunkist CEO James Mast told members that since the fruit was entering the United States anyway, the thinking had been that handling some of the competitive volume would lessen impacts on members. But the plan was abandoned for working even harder for California and Arizona growers, he added.“Which on one hand was good, but on the other hand didn’t fix the fact that they had opened up the business [with Argentina] in the first place,” said a Santa Paula lemon grower who asked not to be identified. “I think Sunkist realized they had many, many unhappy growers in California and Arizona when they agreed to the importation marketing deal.”Part of the turnaround by Sunkist was also due to a weak market for the imported lemons, he added, which had to be labeled with their point of origin.Argentine lemons finally entered the United States market last August, but only to 34 non-citrus producing states. Another 10 states, also non-citrus producing, will be able to receive Argentine lemons in 2002; in 2004 the fruit will be allowed for importation to the five states that grow citrus.There were numerous hearings over importing Argentine lemons urging the federal government to not allow importation of the fruit due to concerns of pest infestation and lack of quality control. A lawsuit against the importation was filed by the U.S. Citrus Science Council and is still pending.
Growers relieved: Sunkist no longer to market controversial Argentine lemons
April 04, 2001
Santa Paula News
Lemon growers throughout the Santa Clara River Valley are relieved that Sunkist has reversed its decision to market lemons from Argentina after the leader of the co-op said that it was not in its best interests.
Lemons have topped Ventura County’s agricultural industry for years, bringing in more than $202 million in revenue in 1999
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesLemon growers throughout the Santa Clara River Valley are relieved that Sunkist has reversed its decision to market lemons from Argentina after the leader of the co-op said that it was not in its best interests.Lemons have topped Ventura County’s agricultural industry for years, bringing in more than $202 million in revenue in 1999. Sunkist represents over 6,500 growers in California and Arizona.“The Board of Directors reviewed the results and decided it was not in Sunkist’s best interest to continue to market Argentine lemons,” said spokeswoman Claire Peters. “Our efforts will be better concentrated on marketing our own growers’ fruit.”After a long and hard fight on the part of growers - who said imported lemons could cause pest infestations - Sunkist stunned its member growers when it announced last summer it would market 350,000 cartons - about 2 percent of all lemons marketed by Sunkist - of Argentine lemons for Citrusvil SA and SA San Miguel, two of Argentina’s largest citrus producers.
