Published: Monday, December 17, 2007
By Kevin Bouffard
The Ledger
Source:
http://www.theledger.com/article/20071217/BREAKING/998493791
LAKELAND -- Six Florida Citrus Commission members charged with exploring alternative marketing strategies for Florida orange juice may not need much time to come to a decision.
Committee members have already reached a consensus that two alternative marketing strategies advocated by many Florida growers promoting 100 percent Florida OJ or only not-from-concentrate (NFC) orange juice from Florida fruit would not work, according to a memo released Monday by Ken Keck, the executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus.
"Marketing programs requiring products to be 100 percent Florida and/or Florida NFC-only are not realistic or necessarily equitable for all participants," Keck said in the memo. "Furthermore, efficiencies and benefits for a significant part of the current and future Florida industry are questionable."
Keck said he based that analysis on staff interviews conducted with all six committee members between Dec. 5 and Thursday.
But Bob Behr, a committee member and a vice president at Floridas Natural Growers in Lake Wales, said he did not agree with that consensus.
"I want staff to get behind an (alternative) idea, but it looks like the staff is not willing to do that," Behr said Monday. "There seems to be a desire not to think about it."
If the Citrus Department doesnt come up with a new marketing direction aimed at benefitting primarily the Florida growers, he said, "were going to market our demise."
The other members of the committee are commissioners Cody Estes, a Vero Beach grower; Mike Haycock, an executive with Tropicana Products Inc. in Bradenton, the largest U.S. seller of orange juice; Ginny Pena, an executive with Clewiston-based juice maker and grower Southern Gardens Citrus Processing Corp.; Mike Taylor, an executive with Collier Enterprises Management Inc., a Naples grower; and David Wheeler, a Lake Placid grower.
The committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Citrus Department office at 1115 E. Memorial Blvd. in Lakeland.
Unless the committee directs Citrus Department staff to explore a marketing alternative, Keck told The Ledger on Monday, he doesn't see a need for further committee meetings. Keck and the marketing staff are not recommending any alternatives, he said.
Read more in Tuesday's Ledger.
Last modified: December 17. 2007 5:19PM
