The model was developed to characterize production of the crops from these regions for

the winter months of production in which Florida ships these commodities. The commodities

were assumed to be shipped to one of four demand regions of the U.S., including the northeast,

southeast, midwest and west. These demand regions were represented by the New York City,

Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles wholesale markets, respectively (Scott, 1991).

 Production costs were determined for each of the producing regions based on budgets

developed for each of the crops from each of the producing regions in the 1990/91 season

(VanSickle, et al., 1994). The constrained optimization model was solved using GAMS

software.

 After solving the model for a base solution for current specifications within the industry,

the budgets and yields were changed to reflect the costs of growing the crops without methyl

bromide and using the next best alternative given today's technology (Appendix G). The results

were compared to determine the impact a ban on methyl bromide may have in Florida on the

production and marketing of these crops.

 The total economic impact of a ban also considers the impact on other industry

participants beyond the returns to shippers. Application of economic multipliers were used to

determine the overall economic impact a methyl bromide ban could have on the Florida economy

given current technology. Economic multipliers allow you to use changes in sales returns to

determine the impact changes in production will have on other participants in the economy

because of losses in revenue from the industry.