NewsBriefs

Florida Oranges Get the Squeeze

Florida’s top agricultural product – the good old Florida orange may see its crop cut in half if the housing industry continues to gobble up its farmland and the citrus canker outbreak worsens.

That’s the prediction from the University of Florida agricultural research group. ''One of the things I got from this analysis is there's a lot of resiliency in the citrus industry,'' said lead researcher Tom Spreen, chairman of the university's Food and Resource Economics Department.

The industry would survive in Florida, but average annual orange production would be severely impacted dropping to 123 million boxes over the next 15 years. That would be down 44 percent from the average 220 million boxes produced annually from the 1994-2004.

The study assumes a high number of trees will be lost to citrus canker and skyrocketing land prices.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and other groups are warning federal lending regulators that too many new additional lending rules could hurt the real estate market.

The lenders trade organization filed letters with the government after many government offices issued new guidelines concerning new loan products. The changes are being instituted after scandals at Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest insurer of home mortgages.

"The private market can and does correct for excess risk more quickly than can a regulator who necessarily must move at a more deliberate pace," the mortgage lenders' group wrote.

"While it is the lender's responsibility to provide borrowers with sufficient information for them to clearly understand the loan terms and associated risks, we do not believe it is appropriate or possible for the lender to identify or dictate the best mortgage product for individual consumers," the group wrote.

Florida insurance companies are asking for more rate hikes to continue to remain profitable. Four companies requested rate increases during the first week of April, including one that is asking for a whopping 81.4% increase.

The Florida legislature is making homeowners insurance their number one priority during the current legislative session.

The four companies have all asked for double digit increases. The homeowners’ insurance industry does not historically continue to write policies in states where they do not make at least a 30% net annual profit.

United Property and Casualty Insurance Corp., Florida Peninsula Insurance Company, Hanover American Insurance Company and Amica Mutual Insurance Company have made the requests. Florida Peninsula has requested the highest increase of 81.4% for single family homes.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort, which was started by legislative action to cover homes that could not get insurance in the private market, covered many of these homeowners until the company bought more than 85,000 Citizens policies only one year ago.

Governor Jeb Bush has assured Floridians that changes would be instituted to assist them with lower insurance costs over the coming years.