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Citrus Box Tax: Life of Death for Citrus

Lakeland Ledger – November 20, 2009

In November 1991, Florida citrus growers voted to tax themselves to help fund research to improve and protect crop production. That tax cannot be extended without the approving vote of citrus growers ever six years.

Eighteen years – three sets of six – have gone by since the enactment of the box tax. Growers may tax themselves as much as 1 cent per box of citrus. The ballots are in the mail to the state’s more than 8,000 growers.

“It is very important that growers take part in the process,” said Michael W. Sparks, chief executive officer for Florida Citrus Mutual, the state’s largest citrus co-operative. He pointed out that citrus greening, a bacterial disease that affects the appearance of fruit and the taste of juice before eventually killing the tree, “is spreading across Florida at a breakneck pace and it’s important we continue the research to defeat it.”

The seriousness of citrus greening cannot be understated. “Scientists have 10 years at the most to find a solution, or there’s not going to be a citrus industry in Florida,” said Peter McClure, who manages 8,000 acres of citrus in the Indian River region, to The New York Times in an interview in late 2008.

JOBS, FLORIDA’S ECONOMY AT RISK

For that reason, the extension of the research tax is supported by not only Florida Citrus Mutual, but a host of other organizations: the Florida Citrus Commission, the Highland County Cooperative Growers Association, the Peace River Valley CGA, Gulf CGA and the Indian River Citrus League. In addition, the Citrus Research and Development Foundation and the Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council support its passage.

“During the first six years of existence, the FCPRAC has directed more than $6.4 million in funding directly into 218 new and continued Florida citrus-production research projects,” FCPRAC’s annual report for 2008 noted. “Much of this research would not have been possible were it not for this program.”

Ballots must be postmarked or date stamped by Dec. 4, and must be received by Dec. 9 to be counted. While voting is limited to Florida’s citrus growers, there is much more at stake here: “The spread of citrus greening, the most serious citrus disease on the planet, is putting our $9.2 billion industry and the 76,000 jobs it creates at risk,” said Mutual’s Sparks.

That should crystallize the importance of the ballot.

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