Citrus Health Response Plan

Attached is an article about the meeting held earlier this week in Lake Alfred on the new Citrus Health Response Plan (not exactly a catchy name). The IRCL and other industry groups are actively engaged in the process of crafting the new Citrus Health Response Plan which is due to be rolled out by next month in advance of the Legislative session in Tallahassee. Also, there is a meeting scheduled in Washington on Friday with Rick Dunkle (USDA) and his entire staff to ensure the ability for this region and the state to shift asymptomatic fruit to our domestic and international trading partners.

The one fact that came out during this meeting that is contrary to the previous meetings we attended is that pulling infected trees is voluntary. The rest of the program is intact until the new program surfaces, which should be around the first week of March.

Also, for your information, they stated $200 million is slated for compensation from Section 32 funds. To date $126 million has been issued leaving a balance of $74 million. They are estimating that this will cover all IFOs dated up to July 25, 2005.

We will let you know when we have more information.