{"id":4294,"date":"2020-02-06T13:17:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T18:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/newsroom\/?post_type=fdoc-news-item&amp;p=1006"},"modified":"2020-02-06T13:17:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T18:17:41","slug":"florida-citrus-industry-leaders-meet-with-consul-general-of-japan","status":"publish","type":"fdoc-news-item","link":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fdoc-news-item\/florida-citrus-industry-leaders-meet-with-consul-general-of-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Citrus industry leaders meet with Consul-General of Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>BARTOW, Fla. <\/strong>\u2013 Florida Citrus industry leaders met with Consul-General of Japan Kenji Hirata at the Department of Citrus headquarters on Tuesday to continue to build upon the longstanding relationship between Florida Citrus growers and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hirata, who is\nbased in Miami and oversees Japanese-U.S. relations in Florida, is tasked with\nstrengthening the bonds between the U.S. and Japan. Hirata cited Florida\nCitrus, particularly Florida Grapefruit, as an integral focus of his work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nrelationship is equally important for the Florida Citrus industry, Florida\nCitrus Commission Chairman Ned Hancock said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJapan\u2019s love\nof Florida Grapefruit is unrivaled around the globe and we are honored so many\nJapanese consumers have welcomed us into their homes over the years,\u201d Hancock\nsaid. \u201cThe Florida Citrus industry values its longstanding relationship with\nJapan and hopes to see it continue for decades to come.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday,\nFlorida Citrus grower and packer Dan Richey provided Hirata and his advisor,\nKazuiki Kataoka, an overview of the history of Florida Grapefruit in Japan.\nChairman Hancock and FDOC Executive Director Shannon Shepp provided an update\non the current state of the industry and FDOC Global Marketing Director\nSamantha Lane provided a summary of current marketing plans in Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Jim\nSyversten, of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, provided an\nupdate on how the industry is combating pest and disease to ensure Florida\nGrapefruit continues to be available to Japanese consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florida first\nbegan shipping grapefruit to Japan in the 1970s and the Florida Department of\nCitrus has promoted Florida Grapefruit in Japan for more than 35 years. Japan\nremains the largest export market for Florida Grapefruit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the\nFlorida Department of Citrus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Florida\nDepartment of Citrus is an executive agency of Florida government charged with\nthe marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry.&nbsp;\nIts activities are funded by a tax paid by growers on each box of citrus that\nmoves through commercial channels.&nbsp; The industry employs&nbsp;50,000\npeople, provides an annual economic impact of&nbsp;$7.2 billion to the state,\nand contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues that help\nsupport Florida\u2019s schools, roads and health care services. For more information\nabout the Florida Department of Citrus, please visit&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/\"><em>FloridaCitrus.org<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 Florida Citrus industry leaders met with Consul-General of Japan Kenji Hirata at the Department of Citrus headquarters on Tuesday to continue to build upon the longstanding relationship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1008,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[100],"fdoc_citrus_type":[],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4294","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-industry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4294"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4294"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}