The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Legislative Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 includes proposals for various specialty crops.
Included is $8 million for citrus greening research, funded in the Agricultural Emergency Eradication Trust Fund. Funding will be passed through to the Citrus Research and Development Foundation. There is also a request for $1.45 million for Citrus Crop Decline Supplemental Funding to support citrus inspection, crop forecasting and the Citrus Budwood program.
Also included was a proposal for the state’s hemp program. Its total includes $3.2 million, $1.9 million of which is for the trust fund authority.
The FDACS Legislative Budget Request totals an estimated $150 million and consists of approximately $31 million in General Revenue funds and $119 million in State Trust funds.
“Despite the challenges of operating through a continuing pandemic, our core mission remains the same: to safeguard the public and support Florida agriculture. Our budget priorities are solutions-oriented and critical not only to our department’s success, but also to our state,” said Commissioner Nikki Fried.
“Funding these common-sense and fiscally-responsible priorities will save lives and property by supporting our wildland firefighters and agricultural law enforcement officers; protecting and improving our water sources; ensuring Florida’s agriculture industry remains globally competitive in the face of both ongoing and new challenges, and fostering the burgeoning hemp and hemp extract inhalation industries capable of creating billions in economic potential.”