Study finds citrus breeding program added $160m to Florida's economy
Marisa Zansler, head of economic and market research at the Florida Department of Citrus, led the study team and presented the report’s findings.
“Investment in new citrus varieties not only provides economic opportunity for growers and (juice) processors of the Florida citrus industry, the investment also provides significant economic benefit to the state of Florida,” the report concluded. “In recent years, it has never been more critical that new citrus crop varieties not only serve to meet the dynamic nature of consumer tastes and preferences, but also to mitigate the harmful impacts of pests and diseases.”
The Citrus Department, funded primarily by a state tax on citrus growers, has financed the corporation since its beginning in 2007. Last year, Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature agreed to provide $650,000 from general tax revenue to operate the corporation in the 2016-17 budget year.
Every dollar spent on the corporation’s work from the 2007-08 season through 2016-17 has returned $8.17 in benefits to the Florida economy, she said.
“I think that’s a conservative number,” said Peter Chaires, the corporation’s executive director and chief executive of Florida Citrus Packers, the trade group for the state’s fresh fruit packinghouses. “In the long run, the corporation’s impact is going to be huge.”
The corporation’s work has already led to five new fresh citrus varieties released to Florida’s commercial growers, he said, and it has 10 more varieties that could be made available soon for citrus juice processing.
The corporation is conducting field tests on new varieties at more than 100 commercial groves in Florida, Chaires said. Florida nurseries have already propagated 1.1 million new trees for new orange and tangerine varieties.
The $160.5 million total benefit includes $62.5 million in additional income and jobs to the citrus industry directly attributable to planting those new varieties, Zansler said.
source: staugustine.com
