Five Questions

As executive vice president of the Gulf Citrus Growers Association in LaBelle, Ron Hamel serves as the point person for the 310-member group, which includes producers, processors and other related suppliers and service providers. Such a resource is valuable these days as the citrus industry reels from bad weather, global competition, disease, environmental concerns and other challenges.

Hamel became the organization's first executive VP in 1988 after serving several years in public affairs for the National Dairy Board in Washington, D.C. His territory covers 160,000-plus acres of groves in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Charlotte and Glades counties, which generate $1 billion of economic impact. As usual, Hamel stands at the ready to provide information important to the association.

1. What did Wilma do?

Our area of the state, particularly Collier and Hendy, were hit harder than any other part of the citrus industry. At least 50 percent of the crops, primarily oranges, have been lost to the storm. The grapefruit trees lost 80 to 85 percent of their fruit. We're the second biggest grapefruit-producing area in the state. We're still trying to get a handle on dollar losses, but it would be several hundred million dollars worth of fruit. Losses for all agriculture commodities in the state are estimated to be over $2.2 billion. The outlook up until Wilma was pretty strong, with the exception of ongoing battles with citrus canker.

2. Will growers receive assistance?

There have been a lot of efforts by [state agricultural] commissioners and [U.S.] Congress members to look at the losses. The Florida delegation, along with those from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are collectively working on an agriculture disaster bill and will try to do something before the end of the year to get funds. This would be direct relief for the growers, helping them to recover from the severe crop losses and damage to the trees, not even counting what could happen with canker.

3. Is agriculture feeling heat from tourism-friendly officials who say farm run-off threatens the health of the Gulf, thus harming tourist destinations?

I think the tourism industry is a very important part of our economy. All sectors are important to the long-term benefit of our region. In a community, the more diverse you are with your economic sectors the better. Agriculture has been in this part of the state for a long time. When the tourism sector was blasted by [Hurricane] Charley, agriculture in Southwest Florida had a pretty good year. We dodged Charley. It got the northern part near Charlotte. Agriculture brings a great tax benefit. We don't take up much in services from the government [for] what we pay in taxes. Economic studies have shown that for every dollar agriculture in this part of state pays in taxes, it gets 38 cents back of economic benefit.

We need to do our share, as well, on the environmental side, working for water-quality improvements and water management. A lot of [county] commissioners are talking about flooding sugar cane fields to move water south, but the reality of that is, if you talk to engineers, you'll learn that type of engineering isn't even available. I think the point is that trying to find additional storage is important, because that is seen as a long-term solution.

4. What challenges do Southwest Florida growers face internationally?

Brazil is the world's biggest producer of orange juice, and the biggest crop in [Southwest Florida] is oranges for juice. We produce about 20 percent of the state's total in this region. The biggest competitive edge Brazilians have is the geographical size of growing areas. In addition, Brazilian producers do not have the same environmental-quality standards that we have to have in our regions [and] the cost of labor in Brazil is much less than it is here in Florida. Our workers earn in one hour what Brazilian workers get in a day. Our citrus workers make over $7 an hour.

5. What's the good news among citrus producers?

In our region we have a pretty diversified group of growers that have the land available. They are also implementing the latest technologies. Southwest Florida is pioneering the use of mechanical harvesting more than any other part of the state. Mechanical farming technology, we feel, is going to help us compete against Brazil as far as the labor issue goes. We're

also making use of [best management practices] for water quality management.

I've met three or four large [local] companies in the past couple of weeks and each and every one of them has said we're going to be survivors. They feel that if there's any part of Florida that will remain a player in the citrus industry, it will be us.