This is the first installment of four Q&A features with Brenda Eubanks Burnette, the winner of this year’s Citrus Achievement Award. This month she asks industry members to help preserve citrus history and discusses her belief in the citrus industry’s future.
If someone has old family documents and records related to the citrus industry, what should they do?
BURNETTE: As the industry has contracted over the years, there is much history being lost. Family members, who might no longer be in the industry, could be throwing out old records and documents from the family citrus business and not realize what they have from a historical standpoint.
Don’t throw it out. Please give these records or other photos and memorabilia to the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, so we can help make the determination of whether it has historical value. This is very important to help us preserve the history of the people who came before us and are no longer here to tell their story.
Why do you believe in the future of Florida’s citrus industry?
BURNETTE: The citrus industry is part of Florida’s history. I’ve always said that Florida citrus pioneers helped shape the state of Florida. We have been working on a book of how they did this through the biographies of our Florida Citrus Hall of Fame members.
Citrus is such an iconic part of our state that it will not go away. The industry has changed and will be different, but it will remain. I think we’ve begun to turn a corner in a more positive direction, so it is extremely important we keep the story of Florida citrus alive. I look forward to helping preserve the story of our future as well.
Special thanks to TJ BioTech for sponsoring the Citrus Achievement Award program.
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