Florida Citrus Growers Give Landslide Support To Research Order

Posted by Frank Giles|February 17, 2016

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) has announced that Florida’s citrus growers reauthorized the Florida citrus research order in a legally required referendum conducted by the Department. More than 87% of ballots received by FDACS were in favor of reauthorization.

The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) serves as the advisory council of record for the research order. The CRDF was created to conduct disease and production research to ensure the survival and competitiveness of Florida’s citrus growers.

“It is encouraging to see that Florida citrus growers overwhelmingly supported the work of the CRDF,” says Mike Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “The landslide vote shows growers believe the industry is on the right research course to find solutions to HLB. I am extremely optimistic new tools will be developed in the short term to help our industry survive and ultimately thrive in this challenging environment.”

A marketing order establishes, by vote of the producers, a self-imposed assessment or fee to be used for a variety of industry activities.