``If he writes a check to the labor contractor and the labor contractor doesn't pay the employee, I don't know [if] that should be the farmer's responsibility,'' he said.

Machek said the industry is already struggling to keep its market share against countries such as citrus-rich Brazil - forcing the farmer to produce his crop for the least amount of money he can.

Rep. Baxter G. Troutman, R-Winter Haven, who described himself as a small citrus grower, said the industry's role is so vital that the Legislature must be sure that bad legislation is not written.

``There is already so much environmental, statutory, global marketplace pressure on the farmer these days,'' said Troutman, who owns 122 acres of Central Florida citrus groves valued at more than $1 million.

The U.S. Department of Labor's wage and hour division enforces laws that include the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, which sets rules regarding pay, housing and transportation.

The federal agency has gone after some of Florida's most troubled contractor crew bosses, the middlemen employed by farmers to bring laborers to the fields. More than 200 contractors and top assistants are currently prohibited from working in that capacity, accounting for 43 percent of all those barred in the United States.

Yet crew leaders ``are just the puppets,'' said Lucas Benitez, co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a nonprofit group that rallies against worker abuse and has helped authorities uncover crimes.

He and others say those in higher positions hold the ultimate power. Yet they are punished less than crew bosses. Growers have not been prosecuted in any of the slavery cases.

``The white guys never go to jail,'' lawyer Schell said.

Some reformers believe change should come not only from growers but from large corporations that buy Florida fruits and vegetables in bulk.

``The real answer and long-term solution to slavery is getting those end users involved,'' said Greg Asbed, a staff member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. ``It totally breaks the tired old stalemate.''

The coalition has targeted Yum! Brands Inc., the parent company of Taco Bell, which buys Florida tomatoes in bulk. The coalition notes that while Yum! reported more than $4 million in compensation for its chief executive officer last year, it buys tomatoes picked by workers struggling to get by.

Despite pickets at the Kentucky headquarters of Yum! and rallies across the United States, the company maintains that the dispute should be resolved by other parties. ``It certainly rests between the growers and [their] employees,'' said Laurie Gannon, a Taco Bell spokeswoman.

She said the companywants to be sure ``all the laws are being followed and that they are being treated fairly and earned minimum wage.''

Laura Germino, another coalition representative, contrasts the Yum! response to that of the chocolate industry two years ago after Knight Ridder Newspapers published an exposé of how child slavery tainted the chocolate industry.

Within days, chocolate manufacturers offered their support to combat slavery. Likewise, Germino said, agricultural interests ``have the market power to use their strength to do good.''