Day 2 and Day 3

Continuation from Day 2: 

Stephen Basore provided a fascinating look into how lettuce gets from the field to boxes shipped to retailers. TKM Bengard Farms produce company is family owned. The father came to Florida after raising onions in Michigan in "muck" soil. The area around Lake Okeechobee is uniquely suited to raising lettuce with soil almost like rich black gold. Stephen is one of six brothers who run the company at Belle Glade.

Food safety is important as the family follows standards but goes above and beyond because they want to have satisfied customers. Everything is tracked through the system for food safety.

The crews can handle 500 acres of lettuce in a day. Fifteen harvest crews will go out to cover three locations. The lettuce is cut in the field, brought back to the plant where the produce is prepared for shipping. All the product is handled quickly to preserve quality. The last step before shipping is putting the boxes in a container where the air is sucked out to cool down the greens and then nitrogen gas is used to surround the boxes to help keep the product fresh. After the boxes are wrapped in plastic, they are put in massive coolers where the boxes wait to be loaded onto trucks for markets. Nearly 100 million lbs. of iceberg lettuce goes to chain grocery stores east of the Mississippi River. All is contracted. Iceberg lettuce makes up 60 percent of the product produced. They also grow romaine and spring mix leafy greens for bagged salads. 

Fields have produced record yields with trucks filled and leaving the field every 12 to 15 minutes. In an average year, it would be 25 minutes. The edges of the fields are netted to keep amphibians out of the fields. "No one wants to find a frog in the middle of their head of lettuce," Stephen said.

The company owns 60 percent of the land and will rotate to sugar cane after 4 or 5 years of lettuce production. They lease land from local farmers for $300 an acre. Land costs $10,000 an acre to buy. The soil holds a lot of moisture and so ditches of water around the fields are kept filled with water to provide needed moisture. The company is the largest sweet corn producer in the U.S and provides product around Memorial Day.

"Give me a bottle of ranch dressing and let me sit in the field and I'd be in heaven," Cathy Nelson of Lake Preston said when sampling some of the romaine and iceberg lettuce straight from the field. The group agreed the fresh flavor was overwhelming.

Day 3: 

An early morning start got the SDARL alumni group to Parkland, FL, for the Loxahatchee and Everglades airboat experience. Guide Matt settled the 12 of us on the boat and expertly showed us the waterways and wildlife. Temperatures were in the 50s so the alligators were mostly sunning themselves on the banks of the waterways. We saw herons, osprey, egrets and eagles along with keeping a close eye out for gators. We saw some about 2 feet long and other 6-foot long. Matt explained that alligators want to be left alone and will only attack if stepped on or if someone is bothering their nest. 

Matt said the gators mostly eat fish and small mammals. They get few diseases. There are about 1.3 million wild alligators in Florida (one for every 15 residents!) and he explained the procedures for getting the limited number of hunting permits. Gators leave the nest at about 2 to 3 years of age. Those that are 7-foot-long are 8 to 13 years old which is mating age. Only about 10 percent of the 30 to 40 eggs laid by the female make it to adulthood. 

All arrived back on shore and agreed it was a great way to start the day.

Brad Sanderson of Lake Preston said, “Being able to see and actually ride through a part of the Everglades and experience the natural environment made me appreciate its uniqueness.”

Unique water project

Noah Handley and Mallory Dimmitt jumped on the bus with the group at Nicodemus Lakeport Gate, about 30 minutes from Clewiston, FL. They explained the Nicodemus Project, managed by the Lykes Bros. Inc. which provides for excess water storage from Lake Okeechobee. It has 15,859 acres and has a project capacity of 11 billion gallons of water. It has been operating for three years. It is the largest wetlands restoration project in the world. 

The water is drained into this area to keep the water from going into the estuaries to the east and west of Lake Okeechobee. There are eight berms and 8 miles of canals. It can lift the water 8 feet back into the lake or into the Caloosahatchee River. It is meant to handle the excessive rains that sometimes occur in Florida. One year the area had 69 inches of rain. 

The annual lease paid by the state is $2 million with a contract for 8 years. While there is water on the land, it continues to be used for hunting wildlife and for grazing cattle. If the state decides it no longer wants to fund the project, the land can be returned to its original use. 

About the Lykes: Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes gave up the practice of medicine to take over his family's 500-acre farm in rural Hernando County, where he engaged in citrus growing and cattle ranching, including the export of cattle to Cuba. Dr. Lykes moved his family to Tampa in 1895 to focus on the cattle trade and launch his seven sons into the business world. In 1900 the older boys opened an office in Havana, Cuba, doing business as Lykes Brothers. All the brothers eventually joined the family operations. Mallory is part of the family and is the Vice President of Strategic Development and Business Relations. It is a privately held, family-owned and managed business that includes cattle, citrus, farming, forestry, land and water resources and recreational hunting. What began as a 500-acre operation near Brooksville, FL, has grown to more than 610,000 acres in two states.

The bus drove along some of the berms to provide the group with a feel for the scope of the project. Noah, Mallory and Derrick explained the project is managed by one person as the gates can be run remotely on an iPad. Derrick checks the berms for disturbances. He said gopher tortoises can dig into the berms and cause damage. 

Gators up close

The Parker Island Gator Farm near Lake Placid, FL was the last stop for the day. The blog will continue with stories of the group’s closeup and personal experiences with gators.