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Canker fight over, but tab still waits

Growers are owed $300-million or more under the now-ended program. A USDA spokesman says it's up to Congress to pay up.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published January 14, 2006

Now that the federal government has pulled the plug on a compensation program for Florida growers who lost trees to citrus canker, the question becomes: Will growers waiting to be reimbursed ever see a dime?

The tab has gotten expensive.

Florida citrus growers may be owed up to $380-million for trees destroyed under a program to eliminate canker from groves, state agriculture officials say. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday raised doubts that Congress will free up the funds.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson told a state Senate committee Thursday that the federal government may owe growers from $360-million to $380-million to compensate them for trees burned in a campaign to wipe out the bacterial disease.

In a separate, broader estimate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday set the figure at about $300-million for trees destroyed since December 2004.

Bronson's remarks came the day after the USDA told state officials that canker could not be eradicated in the state because the disease became too widespread after Hurricane Wilma. The USDA said it would no longer support compensating growers for all trees burned to prevent the spread of canker, ending a program that had paid growers at least $500-million in state and federal funds alone during the last decade. The USDA's decision referred to future eradication efforts and did not specifically address money owed growers whose trees have already been destroyed.

"We are in arrears, both at the grower level from the Feds and at the backyard home level to pay for all trees taken as of Monday's date," Bronson said, referring to the day federal and state officials agreed to abandon eradication efforts. "We must pay for those trees taken."

The federal government, by agreement, compensates commercial citrus growers for lost trees while the state compensates homeowners who lost trees to canker. Bronson did not provide a figure on what the state owes those homeowners.

Bronson said he thought some payments were being processed.

The USDA, which works with Florida in administering the canker eradication program, says it is not up to the agency to provide funding.

"Compensation may be provided subject to the availability of funds as provided by Congress," said Tyrone Kemp, a USDA spokesman based in Florida. "Period. That puts it pretty bluntly. It's now a political matter."

State agriculture officials say they still expect the federal government to make good on its obligation to compensate growers who lost trees before this week's pronouncement.

"As far as we're concerned, it's an obligation," said Terry McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "I can't assure you they will come through with money that is pledged. But it is my understanding there will be continued funding to compensate growers."

Kemp, however, said freeing up money to reimburse growers is entirely up to Congress, not the USDA.

He said given other federal priorities, including the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina, it may be a long shot that money will be forthcoming from Congress.

"One would think that's going to be the case," Kemp said.

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, whose district is one of the largest citrus producers in Florida, has been instrumental in helping secure canker funding. On Friday, his office did not return calls for comment.

It was unclear Friday how many growers are affected and whether they have any legal recourse if they have not been paid.

Lake Wales grower Ellis Hunt Jr., whose family grove has operated since 1922, said most growers reported canker in their groves themselves. Given the promise of federal reimbursement, he believes the government has a moral obligation to compensate growers, if not a legal one.

"If growers thought they wouldn't get paid, they certainly may not have self-reported some of those finds," Hunt said. "I feel like the USDA and state have given the commitment to growers that they will be compensated."

About 15 infected trees were recently found in Hunt's Polk County grove. Under state law, agriculture officials are obligated to burn the adjacent 1,900 feet of trees to prevent the spread of canker.

But before the state could move in and burn all Hunt's trees, the USDA announced canker couldn't be eradicated, halting the state's program of burning those adjacent trees.

"I guess it was a bittersweet thing," Hunt said, saying his timing saved his family 300 acres of orange trees. "We all had hopes they could eradicate canker. There are some growers who wish they stopped a year ago. But it's always hard to find that point of no return."

Citrus generates $1-billion in revenues, employs 90,000 people and has an estimated $9-billion economic impact in Florida. Only in the past five years has its reign as Florida's top crop been replaced by nursery plants.

Canker causes unsightly lesions on citrus trees and fruit. It weakens the tree, leading to decreased fruit production, but does not kill it. The bacteria is harmless to humans and animals.

From 1995 through Dec. 17, the state and federal government destroyed 848,000 residential trees, 4,224,000 nursery trees and 6,378,000 commercial citrus trees. The numbers were expected to go up dramatically with recent hurricanes pushing canker throughout the state.

"It kept galloping away daily," Kemp said, noting that financial claims by growers for trees that would have had to be destroyed in the future would have approached $1-billion.

"The hurricanes changed the whole shape of things," he said, referring to storms in both 2004 and 2005.

Living with canker is more expensive to growers, especially fresh fruit shippers. Some foreign markets may balk at fruit shipments from canker-infested regions, officials say.

"Hopefully that won't be a problem," McElroy said of foreign citrus markets, especially those in Japan. "We're really going into uncharted waters."

Times staff writers Kris Hundley and Matthew Waite and researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.

[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:39:15]