MIAMI -- They are leaving just as anxious as they came to this cosmopolitan city.

But Florida's citrus growers say they're keeping the faith that their groves will be safe in whatever comes out of the final negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement.

Talks on the FTAA ended early in Miami on Thursday, with ministers from across the Americas announcing they had agreed on a buffet-style framework for the world's largest free trade bloc. But the hemispheric leaders go away from the city not making 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 when they arrived here. More than a dozen growers and their representatives came to Miami this week to fight for the tariff, which they say is the only thing keeping their groves alive.

"I can tell you I feel the same kind of apprehension as I did last week," said Robert Coker, a vice president for U.S. Sugar Corp. and Southern Gardens Citrus, one of the largest citrus groves in Southwest Florida and the state, with 28,000 acres.

Coker drove into Miami early Monday. He was followed by a handful of other growers later in the week. Among them were Southwest Florida growers Tom Jones, director of government affairs for Silver Strand, a Barron Collier Partnership, in Immokalee; and George Austin, a small grower and citrus consultant. They arrived Wednesday night in hopes of having some influence in the negotiations, which kicked into high gear Thursday.

The Miami agreement calls for a decision on tariffs to be resolved by Sept. 30 of next year and leaves a cloud hanging over Florida's citrus industry.

Jones said he thinks the fight to keep the tariff on Brazilian juice is just beginning.

"I don't think by any stretch of the imagination we're done," he said. "Nothing bad happened. But citrus hasn't been taken off the table yet either."

Citrus growers attending the FTAA meetings say they feel their message has reached the Bush administration and trade ministers. They've regularly attended briefings over the past few days.

"I've got faith that they've heard us and that they'll do the right thing," said Patrick Carlton, a general partner in McCarlton Partners Ltd. and 4C Partnership in Wauchula.

His two companies own about 800 acres of citrus groves in Florida. He hopes to keep them. He's a seventh-generation citrus grower.

The tariff on Brazilian juice equals about 30 cents a gallon. Without it, many citrus growers say, the entire industry in Florida would be wiped out, creating a monopoly for Brazil. Brazil is already the No. 1 orange juice producer in the world.

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.

If the tariff is wiped out, there's no "plan B" to save the industry, Coker said. The backup plan would likely be for growers to develop whatever land they can, which would "change the rural landscape," he said.

The loss of citrus groves in Southwest Florida will likely only speed the development of sensitive rural lands, Coker said.

During the FTAA meetings, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced he was moving ahead with smaller free trade pacts with some Latin American countries, including one with five Central American countries known as CAFTA. That actually had Coker more concerned when he left Miami on Thursday night than when he arrived. Those countries have the capacity to export several million tons of sugar to this country if tariffs and other barriers are lowered, which could be devastating to U.S. Sugar Corp. and other Florida sugar growers.

There are about 25,000 families involved in sugar farming in the state, he said, and it's a $3.1 billion industry in Florida.

Coker said the sugar issue is one that has yet to be resolved in the CAFTA negotiations, which Zoellick now says he's looking to wrap up in December.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who has been in Miami since Tuesday, said he's stressed to the Bush administration and trade ministers that trade shouldn't just be free, but fair. At a reception for media at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Thursday, he emphasized the importance of protecting agriculture in Florida. Just-released figures show agriculture has a $62 billion impact on the state's economy. He said that's a big reason for him to be in Miami this week.

Bronson said he didn't want to sit idly by while ministers were making decisions that could affect such a large economic engine in Florida. He added that he was glad to make the trip.

"It's been a good experience for all of us," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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