HOW DO GROWERS DEAL WITH REGULATORY INDUCED CHANGE

Florida fruit and vegetable growers continue to face a myriad of regul atory challenges. These challenges result in constant changes for grow ers. This paper discusses how growers deal with regulatory induced cha nges, including examples of 1) the adoption of silviculture BMPs for s urface-water protection during forest-related operations, 2) the devel opment of BMPs dealing with water disposal from tomato packinghouse du mp tanks, and 3) the application of Hazardous Analysis and Critical Co ntrol Points (HACCP) techniques to minimize microbiological contaminat ion of food products. Florida-based scientists (i.e., academia) are en couraged to avoid the adoption of far-reaching conclusions based solel y on basic research and/or preliminary results, and to become more hea vily involved in the extension or implementation of research findings to the point of grower-ready techniques.