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This Week’s Biz and Ag News Update: OJ / Milk & Sponges

As this year’s Florida crop dwindles orange juice futures have climbed higher Last month USDA reduced the estimate of the size of the Florida orange crop- hard hit by citrus greening disease – by 3% since January  and 10% since last October. OJ futures in January stood at around $115 but have climbed to $152 this week. USDA says the disease “threatens the survival of the Florida citrus industry.” Greening is a bacterial disease spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. There is no cure and no certain way to know if a tree is infected early on. Florida produces about three-quarters of the fruit used to make OJ in the U.S.

LA Times had a story June 7 about Visalia dairyman Ron Koetsier’s new  dairy manure digester he hopes will make electricity and cut emissions from his 450 acre Tulare County farm. Article notes the long lead time to get  a digester permitted continues to be a hurdle although they hope now that the new technology works unlike Koetsier’s first try in 1985.

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Central Coast farmer Deanne Coon grows an unusual crop – luffa sponges –in two climate-controlled greenhouses in Nipomo. Her  farm was featured recently on the California Farm Bureau, TV show. She harvests about 6,000 sponges a year. Her Luffa Farm is located near Nipomo. Luffa bathing sponges are farm-grown(not from the ocean) and used primarily to exfoliate skin. Visit the farm at 1457 Willow Rd Nipomo, CA.93444 – west of Hwy 101 and open Wed thru Sunday.

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