The days of just growing citrus in Florida are over.

The politics of trade are now intertwined in the business. That's why the state's citrus growers say it was so important for them to be in Miami last week, playing a role in the negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement.

Let me tell you something, import-sensitive crops will forever be involved in the trade arena," said Robert Coker, a vice president with Southern Gardens Citrus and U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston. "This is not something where we are going to wake up and say it's over. This is a perpetual part of our business from now on."

Coker drove to Miami on Monday. He was one of the first Florida growers to arrive. He wanted to be on the front lines to defend both citrus and sugar.

In the end, the 34 trade ministers negotiating the FTAA agreed to a watered down pact that will require more minimal obligations, but will allow countries to make deeper commitments to open their markets if they choose. The hemispheric leaders left the city not having made a lot of key decisions, including whether to keep a tariff on Brazilian orange juice. That leaves Florida's growers in no better shape than they were a week ago. Still, citrus growers and their representatives who attended the meetings say they are glad they made the trek to Miami.

"We have to be a part of these negotiations if we are going to be in the world market for trade," said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who arrived in Miami Tuesday.

The outcome of the FTAA talks are sure to affect the agriculture industry in Florida, which combined has a $62 billion economic impact on the state's economy and employs 650,000 people.

"We don't want to be separationists," Bronson said. "We don't want to be those sitting back in a shell."

Citrus is the second-largest sector of the state's agriculture economy, after the nursery business.

At stake in these FTAA talks is a $9 billion commercial citrus industry in Florida and an industry that pumps more than $500 million into Southwest Florida's economy.

Even with the possibility of the elimination of the U.S. tariff still hanging overhead, citrus growers and their representatives say they think their lobbying effort in Miami has done some good. They think their message has been heard by the Bush administration and trade ministers.

The message that they carried to Miami is that their industry is unique. And that if the U.S. tariff on Brazilian juice is eliminated, it will create a monopoly for Brazil, which goes against the ideals of free trade because it won't lower prices for consumers.

Citrus growers plan to stay involved in these negotiations and are already talking about who will "draw the short straw" and go to Brazil next year for the next round of negotiations on the FTAA.

The talks are co-chaired by the U.S. and Brazilian trade ministers. The goal is to finalize the FTAA by January 2005.

More than a dozen citrus growers and industry representatives attended the FTAA negotiations in Miami, which wrapped up early on Thursday. Growers left their families and businesses behind, though it's their busiest time of the year. Harvesting is well under way for this season.

For a few days, citrus growers lived in what some called a "police state." When they arrived in Miami they were met with swarms of police, who closely guarded the perimeter around the four hotels where ministers and other participants in the FTAA talks slept and held their discussions.

By Wednesday, police were dressed in riot gear and had brought out armed tanks, in preparation for the largest march by anti-FTAA protesters.

That march ended up mostly peaceful -- nothing like what was seen during rioting at the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle in 1999 and at other free-trade talks.

Growers and their representatives participated in the Americas Business Forum, which gave more than 800 business leaders from around the hemisphere the opportunity to have a say in the trade negotiations. They met wherever they could with ministers, trade negotiators and others to defend their cause -- in hallways, in workshops and at the cafe at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

They got briefings from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and his staff several times a day about the negotiations. Their last briefing was Friday morning. They left Miami only with faith.

"I have a feeling that they realize how vital our existence is and that they realize taking the tariff out will wipe us out," said Patrick Carlton, a general partner in McCarlton Partners Ltd. and 4C Partnership in Wauchula, which owns 800 acres of citrus in Florida. "I have faith. I don't believe
they want to do that."

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