The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services requires a Florida Agricultural Products Dealer Surety Bond for those wishing to obtain a license in this business. These requirements are set forth by sections 604.15 – 604.34 of the Florida Statutes and are in place to ensure business is conducted legally and ethically, as well as to protect the agricultural producers, in the case that the dealer fails to pay.
The Florida Statutes defines a dealer of agricultural products as any person, partnership, corporation or other business entity which deals with the business of purchasing, receiving, or soliciting agricultural products from the producer or the producer’s agent or representative for resale or processing for sale. This covers all agricultural products grown in Florida, except citrus (other than limes), tobacco and sugarcane.
Applying for a license is fairly easy. Just submit the required application form, pay the required fee (which is determined based on your bond amount), and file a Florida Agricultural Products Dealer Surety Bond.
The amount of the surety bond you are required to post is going to be twice the dollar value of agricultural products bought or handled in the month with the highest volume of products bought or handled.
For example, if in the last twelve months you had the highest volume of agricultural products bought or handled in June, you will double the monetary value of the total purchases made in June to get the bond amount. There is a minimum bond amount of $5,000 and a maximum of $100,000.
The licensing fee required upon application will depend on the bond amount:
If the bond amount is between $5,000 – $9,000 the fee is $170
If the bond amount is between $10,000 – $14,999 the fee is $230
If the bond amount is between $15,000 – $100,000 the fee is $300
You can find more about the license and bond requirements on the FL DACS wesbsite.
To obtain a Florida Agricultural Products Dealer Surety Bond, all you need to do is take a few minutes to fill out our free online application! Within one business day one of our licensed agents will contact you with a no-obligation quote for the price to obtain your bond (the “premium”). Once any necessary paperwork is signed and the premium payment is processed, your surety bond will be shipped to you via USPS Priority Mail (overnight shipping options also available).
The surety bonding experts at Surety Solutions Insurance Services, Inc. (Surety1) are here to help you get bonded quickly and reliably. We work with over a dozen “A” rated surety markets to ensure we find you the lowest rate for your bond. We are also licensed in all 50 states and maintain an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau.