The Florida Citrus Commission (FCC) on May 20 approved a $250,000 contract with Visit Florida to continue providing free orange juice at Florida welcome centers on interstate highways.
The FCC serves as the governing board for the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC), which performs marketing, research and regulatory functions for the state’s citrus industry. Visit Florida, the state’s official destination marketing organization, is funded by the Florida Legislature and the state’s tourism industry.
According to the FDOC, the welcome center orange juice program aims to increase awareness of the state’s citrus industry and its products.
The FDOC has a long history of supporting the welcome center juice program, which has been in place since at least the 1970s. The program provides free juice samples to the many visitors who stop at the welcome centers on interstate highways near Florida’s borders with other states.
The FDOC did not renew the welcome center juice contract for the 2019–20 season due to a decrease in its overall budget, including $4 million less in general revenue funding from the state compared to the previous year. But the FCC in June 2020 approved a new contract with Visit Florida to provide the free juice at welcome centers. Learn more about the pause and resumption of the welcome center juice program here.
The $250,000 contract with Visit Florida is a small part of the FDOC’s preliminary budget of $22.9 million for 2026–27. The preliminary budget is down from $24.5 million for the current fiscal year that ends June 20. The 2026–27 preliminary budget includes a $70,000 decrease in salaries and benefits, a $22,000 decrease in general operating expenses and a $1.2 million decrease in FDOC reserves.
See a full article about free orange juice at welcome centers here.
Source: WLRN Public Media
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