Day 5

Sweet juicy oranges --- mmmm. SDARL Alumni learned there are a lot fewer oranges in Florida as a result of diseases and recent hurricanes. 

Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association in Lake Placid, helped us understand the citrus industry as he traveled with us.

Production of Florida oranges for 2017 was 46 million boxes, down 33 percent lower than last year. About 90 to 95 percent of the oranges grown in Florida are for juice. (California provides the eating kind.) The December numbers are the lowest since the 1944-1945 citrus production season of 42.2 million boxes. In 1996, there were 840,000 acres of trees; currently, there are 400,000 acres. 

We visited the greenhouse of Aaron Himrod. Aaron described the process to start new trees. He had 75,000 orange trees in the greenhouse we visited and 250,000 at another site. To keep his trees disease-free, he takes precautions to keep insects out, much like in an operating room with airlocks and disinfecting wash. 

He showed us the new plantings that are grown in citrapots in a mixture of coconut coir and perlite. He described the diseases impacting the industry. Citrus greening is one of the most serious citrus plant diseases in the world. It is also known as yellow dragon disease. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure. The result is a mottling of leaves and bitter, hard fruit with dark tiny seeds. A study by the University of Florida estimated between 80 and 90 percent of the state's citrus acreage was infected by citrus greening, which is spread primarily by an insect called a psyllid, which is smaller than a grain of rice.

Oranges are also affected by citrus canker which is a bacterial disease that causes lesions on leaves, stems and fruit. It is not harmful to humans but causes premature leaf and fruit drop.

Researchers have been frustrated in trying to find a cure. They have looked at a GMO solution, but he thinks the industry will look to a CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology which would be better accepted by the public.

Florida's citrus industry took a huge hit from Hurricane Irma, with estimates that the storm devastated the state's largest agricultural industry with nearly $761 million worth of damage. Aaron said poly was cut from their main greenhouse to preserve the structure, but the plants were then potentially exposed to diseases and will need to be sold or destroyed. 

Ray shared the frustrations of growers as growers struggle to keep going. Production from trees has fallen and so producers are trying maximum production. They are trying to get more production from fields by increasing the number of trees per acre. And if they can't break even, "We can either grow citrus or grow Yankees," meaning the land will be sold for housing the people moving to the state.

John Barben of Barben Groves showed the class a special bag that will be used on some new trees to try to keep the psyllids from infected the young shoots with citrus greening. John had crews resetting 98 acres of a 440-acre grove, making sure automated irrigation jets were in place. He planted 193 trees per acre. He can use his phone to turn the irrigation pumps on and off. He described the nutrients added to the trees. Liquid fertilizer can be added to the water to flow through the system. He invested $4800 an acre without having to redo the irrigation lines. He used to water 7 hours a day but has found that watering during the night, he only has to run the system 3 to 4 hours each day.

Losses from the hurricane in the citrus industry ranged from 35 percent to 80 percent, depending on how close the fruit was to maturing. John said 38 percent of his crop was lost. Some were hurt more, some less.

Since we visited the Parker Island Gator Farm earlier, we stopped at Sebring Custom Tanning at Sebring, FL. Fraser Travers told us gators at the farm are processed and the skins salted. Then they are brought to the tannery and refrigerated until the process begins. They average about 8,000 alligators in a year. All the hides are brought in with an identifying tag and papers. It cost $20 a foot to have the hide processed. Some come from hunters and others from farms such as Parker Island. They also do all sorts of other animals and will start doing snakes as more people are hunting the pythons. The company handles just about any skins but will not do elephants, rhinoceros or giraffes. The hides go through a chemical process and are polished. The skins are all white and can be dyed any color --- red, purple, green, black, etc. Frasier showed sampled of wallets, purses and bags made from alligator skins. 

We stopped at Happiness Farms where workers were sorting caladium bulbs. The fancy-leaf plants are exotic and unique foliage plants, sometimes called Angel Wings. Darlene Phypers explained they handle 50 varieties which are shipped across the United States. Because of the hurricane and flooding of the fields, they will only have 30 percent of their crop this year. 

A quick stop was made the Sebring Airport where we met with Phil Lockwood and saw the Lockwood AirCam. It is a one-of-a-kind airplane, designed as a photo platform for a National Geographic.

Watch for the next installment on visiting with Florida’s leadership class and cattle ranching.