No use? Possible sunset for the Florida Department of citrus

Florida citrus growers could save up to US$844,350 in their tax money by eliminating Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) and integrating its functions into the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Tallahassee. Or they could save $61.8 million - the department's current annual budget - by eliminating the citrus agency and its programs entirely. Those are two of the six options outlined in a Nov. 16 report from the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which was assigned the task of reviewing the Citrus Department and recommending whether it should continue or face abolishment. The department is a state agency charged with promoting Florida citrus products. It gets the lion's share of its funding through a tax on citrus growers and most of the rest from federal grants. In 2006, the state's citrus packing houses shipped only 21.8 million cartons of fresh citrus, including just 13.9 million cartons of grapefruit. Fresh shipments declined in 2006-07 because of the short citrus crops that year stemming from the hurricanes and diseases spread by them, among other factors. "Historically, the Department of Citrus has done an excellent job for the grower," said Mike Sparks, Chief Executive of Citrus Mutual, the most important citrus grower organisation. He worked at the department for 30 years before taking the Citrus Mutual job last year.