image courtesy of the USDA

CALIFORNIA COUPLE BECOMES FIRST FIAB CUSTOMER

Los Altos, Calif. -- A pair of former Connecticut residents became the first customers to place an order on this Web site last following its grand opening, ensuring themselves a spot in Florida In A Box history.

The couple, Michael and Patty, recently moved from picturesque Vernon, Conn., to Los Altos, Calif. Upon receiving the Florida In A Box mailing, they made a beeline to their computer to select the assortment of jellies, sweets and candles that will now be brightening their home.

“The FIAB flamingo certainly made me want to visit Florida,” Michael said in a recent interview. “I would really like to see all the wildlife there, the alligators, manatees, flamingos -- all the creatures great and small. And if I can combine that experience with a Coconut Spread Sandwich and Tortuga Rum Balls, even better.”

TINY INSECT NEW THREAT TO FLORIDA ORANGE CROP

Clewiston, Fla. — Dozens of dead orange trees are stacked here among vast green rows of grove. Farmers felled them still bearing fruit, but these trees were really killed some time ago. All it took was a tiny insect's bite to deliver a fatal crop disease called citrus greening, a bacteria harmless to humans but deadly for the thousands of trees infected since its recent arrival in Florida. The disease has set off a fervor among researchers and growers, already weary after weathering the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 and after two decades battling a less-severe bacteria called canker.

Florida's $9 billion, nation-leading citrus industry has been suffering some of its worst harvests even before greening showed up, sending juice prices skyrocketing. The disease's further spread makes prices expected during 2008 unlikely to recede anytime soon. There are no natural enemies in Florida to the foreign insect that spreads greening —- the Asian citrus psyllid —- and predators can't be introduced. Pesticides that kill the psyllid also kill beneficial insects.
Source: The Associated Press