Day 7

On Feb. 1, the SDARL alumni group met with their Florida counterparts at The Cowpokes Watering Hole in Sebring, FL. The Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources develops and refines the leadership capabilities of leaders in Florida agriculture and natural resources. 

About 30 of their members shared stories with the South Dakota group about their experiences and how they fit into Florida’s agriculture industry. Several were instrumental in helping with the tour, including Ray Royce who spent the day riding with us and explained parts of the industry that were unfamiliar. Several gave an overview of the losses they suffered from the hurricanes that pummeled the ag industry. Initial assessments indicated $2.5 billion in agricultural damages to the state.

In 2014, Class 8 of WLI came to visit South Dakota. They learned about the operation of Jon and Cathy Nelson at Lake Preston and continued their tour west where they visited Bill and Penny Slovek at Philip who were devastated by losses from Storm Atlas, an early October blizzard that killed thousands of cattle. Some of the class members were at the supper because they’d been to our state. 

Traveling with this group of people reminds one of how lucky we are in South Dakota, especially those who have gone through the SDARL experience. The hard-working, dedicated and caring men and women are exceptional. Although our group was small, the opportunity to share and learn from others makes our travel a unique learning experience. A huge thank you to Dr. Hannah Carter for working so diligently to contact all of the people who met with us during the Ag portion of the tour.

The final part of the Graduate Experience trip to Florida included a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. We learned of the successes of the space shuttle program and the future of international space travel, which includes landing astronauts on an asteroid and on Mars. What trip to Florida would be complete without a stop at Walt Disney World? It was a great week!

SDARL Graduate Experience members stop for a photo on the Boardwalk at Disneyworld.

It was an educational and inspirational trip to the Kennedy Space Center, which included seeing the space shuttle Atlantis, and lunch with two-time shuttle astronaut Winston Scott.

Day 6

Grazing cattle in wide open pastures was a welcome sight to the South Dakotans after a week in Florida. Leigh Ann Lightsey Wynn and her father Cary Lightsey welcomed the group to Tiger Ranch near Lake Wales, FL. Cary provided an overview of the family and the extensive cattle operation. The Lightseys started in Buford, North Carolina in 1712 as cow people with the tradition continuing Leigh Ann is the seventh generation.

“Florida is a good cow state, there is plenty of good dirt and good grass. You can raise a lot of cattle per acre. We are as conservation-minded as you could get and work to protect what we have.”

Some of the animals in the pasture had been purchased from cattle producers in South Dakota. Cary said he had bulls from Jorgenson’s Cattle at Ideal, Wienk Charolais at Lake Present and John Christensen at Wessington. Cary said South Dakota cows lose their winter coats when they come from South Dakota and do well. The animals are crossed with a bit of Brahman to help the animals cope with the heat and insects.

Our group climbed into pickups and a side-by-side to see the ranch. We dove through the forest grove of live oaks where once Native Americans lived. Jon Nelson jumped out to open gates as we wound our way through the pastures to see the animals grazing on native grasses. Cary said the animals are fed three lbs. of feed per animal three times a week. The cattle graze on pastures filled with lush native grasses and palmetto palms. The Lightseys are careful in spraying for weeds as they have a lot of bees. Some of the beekeepers from South Dakota bring their bees to Florida for the winter. 

The Lightseys said that during the hurricane cattle are left in pastures. They will turn in a circle, trying to put the wind at their back. Lightsey said seven of their structures went down in the storm.

Cary and his brother Layne decided in 1989 to start doing conservation easements. Now 85 percent of the land is in easements. The family retains ownership of the property and the right to continue using it as they always have. Government agencies or conservation groups buy the rights to keep the land from being developed. “It’s been a win-win for us, with no restrictions,” Cary said. 

Currently at the ranch, Cary and his workers have been marking and branding cattle for the last five weeks, putting in 12-hour days in the saddle. Now they are starting to burn which keeps the pastures healthy. The scrub jay will only nest in areas that have been burned. It is hard work but it’s what needs to be done. They burn pastures every three years and marshes every year. 

The South Dakotans were surprised to learn that Lightsey uses several byproducts to supplement the diets of his animals. They use the yeast left from the brewery process, bakery feed (cookies, cake, etc., that have been heated) cotton gin trash, and vegetables/fruits from Walmart which are ground up and mixed with the other items. Cary said, “When we bring in byproducts, we test everything. We want healthy animals.”

The biggest killer of animals on the ranch is lightning. Coyotes kill calves. Wild pigs are a real nuisance and about 4,000 are trapped each year.

“I consider you all pretty tough people, I don’t know how you do it up there,” Cary said.

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.