Tim Hurner, Peter McClure and the late Richard Kinney were inducted into the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame on March 8 in ceremonies at Florida Southern College (FSC).
Hurner was a longtime Highlands County citrus Extension agent who directed the citrus horticulture program at FSC for several years. He called his time at FSC a career highlight, “working with young people, getting them ready for where their lives are going to take them.”
Turning to his time as an Extension agent, Hurner said, “I came in and worked with God’s people … They’re the ones that got me started, and we plowed a lot of ground together.”
McClure was a grower and production manager known for his longtime leadership of the Florida Citrus Production Research Advisory Council (FCPRAC) prior to and shortly after HLB was found in the state. “We basically did away with our program (FCPRAC) and made sure that a better program that did have a bigger stick could get into place that actually had a chance of solving the (HLB) problem,” he said.
That “better program” is the current Citrus Research and Development Foundation. “It was absolutely essential that we do make the research results to where we could hook it up to a tractor; bring it through the grove to solve our problem. That was our focus from day one,” said McClure. “I think this award is a team award for a lot of us in the industry that bound together and started getting serious about research once greening came on board, and we knew we were in a fight for our lives.”
Kinney was executive vice president of Florida Citrus Packers. His wife and son graciously accepted the award on his behalf. See more details on Kinney, McClure and Hurner’s accomplishments here.
Hear comments from Hurner and McClure on winning the award:
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