[poobear]

What's he planning on doing without the 2 billion GDP that sugar generated. That's going to leave quite a hole in local and state taxes collected. Not to mention the countless state regulator jobs that will be lost. (That might not be a bad thing)

I'm beginning to wonder if Crist started this tomato salmonella rumor to wipe out the entire farming industry.

What's next Crist? No more citrus industry, no ranching, maybe no more tourism?

[NonZeroSum]

What's he planning on doing without the 2 billion GDP that sugar generated

It doesn't generate anything. US grown sugar is a net loss, considering the subsidies and tariffs that screw both the taxpayers and the consumer by keeping the price artificially high. The country would be wealthier if we simply removed the tariffs and imported it from the Caribbean. So would the Caribbeaners. If we did that, the industry would simply go out of business, and the state wouldn't have to do this expensive deal to pay them to go out of business.

[doc30]

Sugar was never a net generator of revenue. It was a big corporate welfare recipient. Plus, the land is needed to undo all the damage that was done to one of the worlds largest wetlands.