BELIZE CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION SHAKING OUT!

CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION

Whether it is a Co-operative, or an Association, the personal vendettas and groupings of minority members wage war with each other from time to time! Usually the majority membership give in to the most voluble and lower class, most vindictive element. Old beefs interfere with the running of such organizations and these can financially ruin and destroy them. I've seen them do it in pig cooperatives and truck cooperatives in Belize. Groupings of one element, fighting another element, usually to gain some small myopic advantage. It really gets sad, when such fights and quarrels start costing the membership, huge bucks in debts and loans. They say you get the management you deserve and sometimes you do, when these feuds go on. All reason and logic thrown to the wind. A complacent membership, or a sense of apathy destroys what was once a good thing, or could still be MAYBE?
The CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION of Belize has been around for 30 years tending to the best interests of over 1000 small citrus growers. Now the Association is down to 400 members. Partially, but not entirely due to feuds going on in the Association. Denkins and Bowman are maybe the leading lights destroying the Association in this latest era, but they couldn't do it without the apathy and complacency of the other members. Jealousy, envy, greed and some sort of power struggle are the usual culprits, when common sense and good business practices are ignored to spite your enemies. Sad to see, but it is looking doubtful that the debts being incurred over the latest round of feuding will allow this Citrus Growers Association to recover it's former glory. TIME WILL TELL!
The Citrus Industry is shaking out it's weaker members and only the strong will survive financially. The growers need more options, more processing factories, more diversification, so all the glory hounds can do their own thing and form their own groups, along with like minded others.
It will be interesting to see how the dust settles in the Citrus Industry over the next five years. Wonder what it will look like then?