FORT PIERCE — Andrew LaVigne is a man on a mission to save the tariff on Brazilian orange juice.

As he did at the Indian River Citrus League meeting last month, the executive vice president of the 11,500-member Florida Citrus Mutual came to Wednesday's concluding session of the annual two-day Indian River Citrus Seminar with the intent of rallying the troops behind keeping the tariff, which equates to $1.80 to $2 per box of oranges.

"This is not about free trade, but about enhancing a monopoly," LaVigne told about 100 people at the Indian River Research and Education Center, adding that losing the tariff would "devastate Florida's economy."

The citrus industry, which is the second largest in the state after tourism, believes the tariff is a life or death issue for the entire industry and as such, it plans to pressure the Bush administration to keep the tariff, even though it goes against the president's fervent free trade policies.

Citrus officials say that eliminating or reducing the tariff would extend Brazil's monopoly in the rest of the world on orange juice and, therefore, accomplish the exact opposite of what Bush wants.

Florida and Brazil combined produce more than 90 percent of the world's supply of juice, but while Florida supplies about 90 percent of the juice sold in the U.S., Brazil essentially supplies the rest of the world. The only thing keeping Brazil from taking over the U.S. market is the tariff, citrus officials say.

Although the Treasure Coast is known as the grapefruit capital of the world, growers in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties also have about 100,000 acres of orange groves so the tariff issue is important to them as well.

In addition, industry officials note that the state's orange juice processors, who also process Florida's grapefruit juice, would not likely continue processing grapefruit juice if they lose the tariff.

LaVigne is trying to unite what is generally considered a very fractious industry behind a multi-million dollar plan that includes political pressure on the White House, Congress, the state Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother.

"We're about to step into the abyss, to fight a fight we never had to before," LaVigne said.

To wage the fight, which includes hiring a top-notch lobbyist and donating to politicians who support the tariff, the first-year cost could range from $4 million to $10 million. The exact amount - and the level of lobbying - still has to be worked out before the plan is presented to the Florida Citrus Commission, LaVigne said.

He said what is being considered is cuts in the budget of Florida Department of Citrus with the money saved going into a fund for the lobbying campaign. The budget is funded by taxes paid for by the citrus producers. LaVigne wants to accomplish the task without raising taxes.

LaVigne also emphasized that keeping the tariff will be "a long fight" that will only end with signed trade agreements, which may take years to occur and the process could outlast the current occupant of the White House.

However, he added, "The cost of preserving the tariff is not as expensive as losing the tariff."