Ryan Ray
The Citrus Commission, the board of directors for the Florida Department of Citrus, is mulling a move to cede all or most of its powers to a federal citrus marketing program, writes Kevin Bouffard in the Daily Commercial. As the bacterial disease citrus greening continues to reduce the annual crop along with the commission’s tax base, many around the industry are again raising the idea:
“If the Florida crop continues to shrink, there’ll be no money for (OJ) advertising,” said Ansley Watson Jr., executive director of the Processors Association.
A federal program would draw tax revenues from all U.S. citrus growers and OJ importers, a much larger tax base than Florida.
But that larger base of tax receipts comes at the expense of some degree of independence:
Both issues hampered the 2007 committee from reaching consensus, and they surfaced again during the hourlong commission debate.
“First and foremost, it has to help the Florida grower,” said Commissioner V.C. Hollingsworth, an Arcadia- based grower. “The Florida grower has built up a lot of equity over the years.”
“We could lose control to Washington,” said Commissioner Ellis Hunt, a Lake Wales-based grower, who also expressed concern about losing the positive image Florida citrus products have built nationally and internationally since the Legislature formed the Citrus Commission in 1935.
