79 



Tropical Fruit Growers Of South Florida, Inc 



Honorable Senator Bob Graham 



United States Senate 



Courthouse Tower 



44 W. Flagler St., Suite 1715 



Miami, FL 33130 October 22, 1992 



RE: USDA Agricultural Soil and Conservation Service 

 Hurricane "Andrew" Assistance, Dade County Tropical Fruit 

 Crops Industry 



Dear Senator Graham: 



As you are aware, South Dade County recently suffered from a 

 devastating hurricane (August 24, 1992). Most of the 

 tropical fruit crops industry had a total crop loss and 

 virtually all fruit trees are severely damaged or were 

 destroyed. 



Tropical fruit crops account for at least 15-20% of Dade 

 County's $1 billion dollar a year agricultural industry and 

 employs over 3,000 people full time. Because of the extent 

 of plant damage and crop loss we believe recovery from this 

 Presidentially declared disaster will take a Congressional 

 Bill similar to the "Drought Assistance Act of 1988". The 

 reason for this is that the existing ASCS Crop Disaster 

 Assistance Program does not adequately address crop losses 

 sustained by Dade County's unique tropical fruit crop 

 industry. 



Currently, the ASCS program addresses the needs of growers 

 who plant seasonal crops such as wheat and corn that are 

 grown and harvested within a calendar year. Thus ASCS 

 disaster payments are based on seasonal crops and losses. 

 In contrast, many of the commercial tropical fruit crops 

 grown in South Florida have cropping cycles that are nearly 

 continuous (harvested during parts of two years) (e.g., 

 avocado, carambola) , or are planted in one year and 

 harvested in the second year (e.g., papaya, banana), or take 

 18-24 months from flowering to harvest (e.g., mamey sapote) , 

 or flower in one year and produce their crop in the second 

 year (e.g., carambola, limes, lychee, mango). Please find 

 enclosed a table of those tropical fruit crops effected by 

 the categories above. 



As outlined above and as evident from the enclosed table and 

 examples, the needs of South Florida's tropical fruit 



18710 S.W. 288 STREET HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA 33030 PH.(305) 248-3311 



