72 



producers in Dade County. Specifically for lime growers this decision 

 has given them little in the way of crop loss. They were excluded 

 under the 1992 crop loss program due to the fact that at the time of 

 the disaster they had harvested greater than 60% of their total volume 

 for the year, however they had only realized 20-40% of their income. 

 Due to the total devastation of Hurricane Andrew the majority of lime 

 groves suffered 100% mortality. This further excludes them from 

 subsequent crop loss payments, as they become ineligible under ASCS 

 guidelines. 



What in effect has happened is that an industry of 6200 acres has 

 now been decimated to 12 00. Most lime growers are either not 

 replanting or taking a wait and see attitude. The majority of limes 

 are imported from Mexico and this development has increased the 

 offshore market share. Also, 2 large packing houses employing at peak 

 season some 1000 packing house workers and probably 300-500 harvesters 

 annually are now standing idle. The economic effect of this easily 

 reaches into the millions of dollars. According to the report 

 'Economic Impact of Agriculture and Agribusiness in Dade County 

 Florida', written in 1990, total gross resales for limes were $28. 5mm. 

 Using the job multiplier of 47.129 per $lmm in sales this represents 

 1343 jobs directly affected by the demise of the lime industry. 



The same argument may be made for the other fruit crops grown, 

 however, limes certainly represent the most dramatic reduction 

 economically. 



Much of the land that was in lime production has been converted to 

 row crop farming by leasing the properties to traditional row crop 

 farmers. The former lime growers receive no additional revenue here 



