Pete Sessions: “the funding for Satsuma orange frost research will go a long way to nurturing this fledgling industry along the gulf…”

“the funding for Satsuma orange frost research will go a long way to nurturing this fledgling industry along the gulf coast. At the beginning of the 20th century, Satsuma orange groves flourished throughout the gulf coast. Indeed, they were running advertisements encouraging people around the country to come down and grow Satsuma oranges. In fact, 18,000 acres of the sweet, easy-to-peel fruit were farmed during the twenties and thirties along the upper gulf coast. However, a period of severe winters around 1940 led to the decline of Satsuma production. Today, fledgling Satsuma groves exist in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Research by Auburn University, one of the finest research institutions in the world, is being conducted to determine how to make this fruit more frost resistant. There are some ideas percolating that may actually do that. This funding will give us the opportunity to revitalize this industry. I am certainly pleased with the overall agricultural spending. We have a lot of emergency assistance for farmers this year because it has been a particularly bad year in some areas of the country, including Alabama. Again, I thank Chairman Cochran for his leadership.”