Title XXXV, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Animal Industry

The purposes of this act are:(1) To enable citrus fruit producers of this state, with the aid and under the direction and control of the state, more effectively to correlate the production and marketing of their citrus fruit with market demands therefor.(2) To establish and maint…

As used in this act, the following terms have the following meanings:(1) “Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.(2) “Person” means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of…

(1) In order to effectuate the declared policy and purposes of this act, the department shall have the power to enter into, administer, and enforce marketing agreements with handlers and distributors engaged in any one or more of the citrus districts established in and by s. 601.…

This chapter may be cited as the “Florida Citrus Code.”History.—s. 1, ch. 25149, 1949; s. 4, ch. 2012-182.

This chapter is passed:(1) In the exercise of the police power to protect health and welfare and to stabilize and protect the citrus industry of the state.(2) Because the planting, growing, cultivating, spraying, pruning, and fertilizing of citrus groves and the harvesting, hauli…

As used in this chapter, the term:(1) “Additive” means any foreign substance which, when added to any citrus fruit juice, will change the amount of total soluble solids or anhydrous citric acid therein, or the color or taste thereof, or act as an artificial preservative thereof.(…

(1)(a) There is created within the department the Florida Citrus Commission, which shall be composed of 11 members appointed by the Governor. Each member must be a resident of this state who is and has been actively engaged in the growing, growing and shipping, or growing and pro…

(1) The Friends of Florida Citrus Program is established within the department to provide support and assistance for existing and future programs within the department.(a) Through the program, the department shall:1. Conduct programs and activities related to the protection and e…

The commission shall include as an agenda item at each regularly scheduled meeting a report by the department’s internal auditor.History.—s. 2, ch. 2004-36; s. 7, ch. 2012-182.

The department shall be a body corporate, shall have power to contract and be contracted with, and shall have and possess all the powers of a body corporate for all purposes necessary for fully carrying out the provisions and requirements of this chapter. The department shall ado…

Each member of the commission shall receive the sum of $25 per day for each day or fraction thereof spent while en route to or from, or in actual attendance at, regular or special meetings of the commission or meetings of committees of the commission, or in transacting other busi…

The department’s executive offices shall be established and maintained at Bartow.History.—s. 7, ch. 25149, 1949; s. 22, ch. 71-186; s. 1, ch. 2010-145; ss. 9, 11, ch. 2010-277; HJR 5-A, 2010 Special Session A; s. 10, ch. 2012-182.

Copies of the proceedings, records, and acts of the commission and certificates purporting to relate the facts concerning such proceedings, records, and acts signed by the chair of the commission and authenticated by the department’s seal shall be prima facie evidence thereof in …

(1) For purposes of this chapter, the state is divided into six districts composed of:(a) Citrus District One: Collier, Hendry, and Lee Counties.(b) Citrus District Two: Charlotte and DeSoto Counties.(c) Citrus District Three: Glades, Highlands, and Okeechobee Counties.(d) Citrus…

(1) Unless otherwise specifically provided by final court order entered as a result of a legal proceeding instituted prior to July 1, 1976, only citrus fruit grown within the boundaries of a specified production area of this state, or processed citrus products prepared solely fro…

The department shall have and shall exercise such general and specific powers as are delegated to it by this chapter and other statutes of the state, which powers shall include, but are not limited to, the following:(1) To adopt and periodically alter, rescind, modify, or amend a…

Notwithstanding chapter 286, the legal title and every right, interest, claim, or demand of any kind in and to any patent, trademark, copyright, certification mark, or other right acquired under the patent and trademark laws of the United States, this state, or any foreign countr…

(1) The department shall have the power to:(a) Establish state grades and minimum maturity and quality standards not inconsistent with existing laws for citrus fruits and food products thereof containing 20 percent or more citrus or citrus juice, whether canned, concentrated, or …

(1) The Legislature finds that emergencies creating abnormal conditions in the state’s citrus industry, which may include, but are not limited to, unusual climatic conditions that produce unusual growing conditions of citrus fruit, freezes and hurricanes, or other acts of God tha…

(1) The department shall administer this section and prescribe suitable and reasonable rules to properly implement this section.(2) The department shall:(a)1. Conduct or cause to be conducted a thorough and comprehensive study of citrus fruit and the juices thereof:a. With respec…

(1) The department shall administer this section, prescribe suitable and reasonable rules for the enforcement of this section, and administer the assessments levied and imposed under this section. All funds collected under this section and the interest accrued on such funds are c…

(1)(a) Whenever, upon its own motion or upon petition of any handler or producer or group or association of handlers or producers of citrus fruit, the commission, upon affirmative vote of seven of its members, determines:1. That the conduct of a special advertising and promotiona…

(1) The first person who exercises in this state the privilege of processing, reprocessing, blending, or mixing processed orange products or processed grapefruit products or the privilege of packaging or repackaging processed orange products or processed grapefruit products into …

The department shall adopt rules providing the manner and method to be used in drawing samples and the quantity to be used in testing and grading of citrus fruit and the canned and concentrated products thereof and shall provide specifications and methods for use of juice extract…

The department shall adopt rules determining the method by which juice is tested for percentage of total soluble solids, the method by which juice is tested for acidity, and the method for testing fruit for juice content. Until the department determines such method by rule, the B…

The inspection in the state of all citrus fruit and the canned and concentrated products thereof, and the certifying as to grades and qualifications thereof, and the enforcement of all provisions of this chapter and rules and orders made pursuant to and under authority of this ch…

(1) There is hereby levied upon citrus fruit and processed citrus products the following inspection fees:(a) Upon each standard-packed box or equivalent, including hourly rate equivalent, thereof of citrus fruit inspected and certified for shipment in fresh form other than fruit …

There is hereby levied upon all citrus fruit upon which inspection fees are imposed by s. 601.28 an additional fee in the amount of 1 mill per standard-packed box or the equivalent thereof. This additional fee shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as citrus i…

The powers of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or its authorized representative include, but are not limited to, the following:(1) To enter and inspect any place within the state where citrus fruit is being prepared, colored, packed, loaded, or stored for shipm…

The Department of Agriculture may annually employ as many citrus fruit inspectors for a period not to exceed 1 year as the Department of Agriculture deems necessary for the effective enforcement of the citrus fruit laws of this state. All persons authorized to inspect and certify…

The salaries of the chief citrus inspector, the chief laboratory inspector, the district supervising inspectors, the junior and senior inspectors, and all other necessary inspectors shall be in the amount as determined and fixed by the Department of Agriculture, and in addition t…

A person may not obstruct, hinder, resist, interfere with, or attempt to obstruct, hinder, resist, or interfere with any authorized inspector in the discharge of any duty imposed upon or required of her or him by the provisions of law or by any rule adopted by the Department of C…

Each state or county law enforcement officer shall make arrests for violations of the citrus fruit laws of this state or of any rule or order of the commission or the Department of Agriculture under authority of law when notified of such violation by the Department of Agriculture…

When any dispute as to quality, grade, or condition of citrus fruit or the canned or concentrated products thereof arises, the shipper or any financially interested person may call in at his, her, or its expense an inspector licensed or certified only by the United States Departm…

In the event that any packinghouse packing citrus fruit or canning plant canning citrus fruit or concentrating plant concentrating citrus fruit shall have present therein or shall be packing, canning, or concentrating two or more lots of fruit simultaneously, the manager or other…

An authorized inspector may not make or deliver a certificate of inspection and maturity and quality of any citrus fruit or the canned or concentrated products thereof upon which the inspection fees and advertising assessments have not been paid or the payment thereof guaranteed,…

For the purpose of enforcing the citrus fruit laws of this state, as well as rules of the department, citrus fruit inspectors may enter into any packinghouse, canning plant, or concentrating plant at any hour of day or night and have and demand access and admission to any enclose…

In cases of emergency or necessity, when no citrus fruit inspector is available for inspection of a particular lot of citrus fruit or the canned or concentrated products thereof, the Department of Agriculture may designate some fit and competent individual to inspect, test, and c…

The owner, manager, or operator of each packinghouse, canning plant, or concentrating plant at which it is intended to pack, can, concentrate, or prepare citrus fruit for market or transportation during the then-present or the next ensuing citrus fruit shipping season shall regis…

It is unlawful for any person to operate a citrus fruit packinghouse, canning plant, or concentrating plant, or to pack or otherwise prepare for sale or transportation any citrus fruit at such packinghouse, canning plant, or concentrating plant without having previously registere…

Whenever the Department of Agriculture shall issue a certificate of registration to any packinghouse, canning plant, or concentrating plant for the purpose of processing citrus fruit or citrus products, as provided by s. 601.40, and said Department of Agriculture shall thereafter…

Any oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and citrus hybrids not conforming to the minimum maturity requirements set forth in department rules are deemed and held to be immature and unfit for human consumption. In the testing of fruit to determine whether the same conforms to such req…

All citrus fruit or processed citrus products prepared for sale or transportation, that are being prepared for such purpose, or that have been or are being delivered for sale or transportation that may be found immature or otherwise unfit for human consumption upon inspection and…

(1) All citrus fruit, except as provided in s. 601.50, sold or shipped, or offered for sale or shipment, for consumption in fresh form shall be graded in a registered packinghouse in this state according to standards established by the department, and the grade of such fruit shal…

(1) It is unlawful, except as provided in s. 601.50, for any person to sell or offer for sale, transport, prepare, receive, or deliver for transportation or market any citrus fruit in fresh form unless such fruit has matured in accordance with the maturity standards and is accomp…

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association, or corporation to falsify or alter any certificate, slip, or other document evidencing or pretending to evidence the weight of citrus fruit bought by weight or knowingly to make, utter, or deliver any such certificate, s…