During a December webinar on agricultural labor, Lisa Tate, a fifth-generation citrus and avocado grower in southern California, spoke about the impact of imports on her family’s farm.
“As a lemon grower, we were very profitable for many years, and then all of a sudden, trade policy changed, and we just got an influx of foreign lemons, which killed our domestic crop immediately,” she says in the webinar. “I went from making very good money on our crop to losing 2 cents per lemon over the course of three years without any other changes, just that policy change.”
Casey Creamer, president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual, says Argentinian lemon imports have been problematic for the state’s citrus growers for almost a decade. But its history dates back about 25 years. In 2000, amid pressure from the Argentine government, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service lifted a phytosanitary ban on imports from the country. However, in 2001, U.S. citrus growers filed a lawsuit noting the science used to justify the opening was flawed, and a judge ruled in favor of the U.S. growers.
In December 2016, USDA announced it would lift a ban on lemons from the northwest part of Argentina. Following negotiations, fresh Argentine lemons were allowed in by around 2018. Creamer says the influx of lemons coming from Argentina started off slow, but it’s become a flood.
“It’s been increasing it feels like every year,” Creamer says. “They’re a pretty big player in lemons, and they’ve shifted a whole lot more tonnage from the EU, which is where they traditionally sent it, to the United States.”
Creamer says what’s problematic for Southern California coastal growers is the timing of these imports.
“It’s really the time that they come in, really impacting our Southern California Coastal growers,” he says. “Who have had negative profitability significant for the last few years, and without any sort of improvement in or reduction in the amount of lemons that are being sent from Argentina. We just don’t see many options there for improvement.”
Creamer says California Citrus Mutual has had discussions with members of Congress and with USDA and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to elevate this issue.
“We’re not against fair, reciprocal access, but we should be having American growers first,” he says. “There’s a balance there that we just feel is not balanced at the moment, and so we’re looking for some remedies, whether they be in the current discussions that are happening with Argentina around the reciprocal tariffs, whether they’re in other areas. Our growers are a good portion of the especially lemon growers in Southern California, are experiencing a lot of pain, and we need some help.”
And that balance, Creamer says, is crucial for all global trade. What is imported, what is exported? What other markets is the USTR working to open?
“There’s the trade-offs that always happen, and it’s a tough deal, and I get it, but we’re going to do our job for our growers and advocate for them,” he says.
Tate acknowledges this too in the webinar, where she says decisions and the subsequent consequences can really impact growers.
“Sometimes those policies are helping one commodity, but they end up hurting another,” she says. “I don’t know how you even that playing field, but the more competitive we can be with foreign growers, the better it is for us.”
And Creamer says while he understands growers feeling the brunt of these polices might get frustrated, he wants to assure the growers that organizations such as California Citrus Mutual are vital to create relationships that can help best communicate those concerns.
“This is why you have organizations to be on top of these types of things, to have the relationships and speak with a collective voice to share these concerns,” he says. “Know they have an advocate who’s working on their behalf 24/7, making sure elected officials and agencies understand what’s happening on the ground.”
And he says growers should understand that while the government might move quickly when there’s a crisis, the pace of government isn’t necessarily quick.
“You’ve got to convince the senators, and then you’ve got to get something signed by the president, and there’s an administrative side of things,” he says. “Our system was not built necessarily on speed. These things take a long, consistent, persistent effort. I understand the growers’ frustration, but this is part of how the system of government works.”
Also, he wants growers to know they are at the table and are presenting the data on the issue of imports and other issues concerning California citrus growers.
“All politics is local. It never hurts for people to be involved in local politics,” he says. “Your member of Congress in your area, you need to know who they are. You need to call the office and say hello, make sure they’re aware of the issues that are affecting the district. All that feeds in and is very helpful for the work that we do, because it’s not only a trade association coming and talking to the member in D.C., but they’ve also heard it from their constituents and back in the district.”
He also says growers should understand how helpful it will be to have Sen. Adam Schiff as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
“It’s great that we have Senator Schiff on the Senate Ag Committee now, which gives us a much stronger voice than what we had before,” he says. “We’re really grateful to have connections like that, and people, like the senator, who want to help.”
