Fourth Generation to Lead Fresh Citrus Business

There have been many challenges faced by the Florida citrus industry in its long and storied history. Innovative growers have found ways to overcome those challenges, making citrus one of the core industries in the state.

Few would argue that HLB is not the biggest challenge to date, but growers continue to innovate to try to save the industry. A prime example of this can be seen in the Roe family, who has been in the citrus business since the 1910s.

Born in 1886, William G. Roe (W.G.) grew up in upstate New York on the Hudson River. As a teenager and through his early 20s, he cut 300-pound blocks of ice from the river during the winter. The ice blocks were stored in sawdust-lined ice houses along the river. During the summer, all the ice houses would transport their ice on barges down to New York City. W.G. accompanied his ice on barges, where his service area included the produce market. He became acquainted with farmers in the upper Hudson Valley who needed their crops transported and sold into the New York City produce market. He transported the crops on his ice barge and made life-long relationships while learning the art of buying and selling produce.

Due to mild health issues, W.G.’s doctors suggested that a warmer climate would be better for him, so he migrated to Florida in 1910. There he leveraged his New York City produce relationships and began buying, transporting and selling Florida citrus. He married in 1916, had sons Willard in 1919 and Frederick in 1922, and founded Wm. G. Roe & Sons, Inc. in 1923, with a focus on specialty tangerines.

The company is now in its fourth generation of family, and specialty fresh citrus is still the mainstay.

TANGERINE TRENDSETTING

While the Roes have always been good citrus growers from a production standpoint, marketing knowledge has allowed the company to stand out over time.

The third generation, led by Morgan, Quentin and Bill Roe, entered the business in the late 1970s. They continued to expand the company’s tangerine focus. The introduction of clementines from Spain into the U.S. market in the late 1980s was a turning point for the Roe business. The third generation quickly realized that the traditional Florida varieties were going to be obsolete at some point due to the superior characteristics of the Spanish clementine. The Spanish clementines, and the realization the traditional citrus breeding programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida were focused on developing new varieties of oranges, were the impetus for launching a private breeding program to create competitive new tangerine varieties.

That proprietary breeding program has developed three tangerine varieties that have been a hit in the marketplace. Juicy Crunch, Autumn Honey and Roe Tangerine are easy-peel and very low seeded — not your typical Florida tangerines. They are marketed under the Noble brand.

There is currently a large volume of these varieties coming into bearing age. To better position the business for the marketing of these fresh fruit brands, the family recently unveiled a new business plan to handle its rapid growth, modernize packing operations and bring significant advantages to its retail partners.

Under the new business plan, the former companies operating under the Wm. G. Roe & Sons, Inc. umbrella since 1926 will rebrand into two companies working together to bring Noble brands to market.

“Noble Ag LLC will turn money into fruit by growing the best Florida citrus. Noble Citrus will turn fruit into money via harvesting, packing and marketing,” says April Roe Porter, president and owner of Noble Ag. She is among the fourth generation of the family involved in the business.

The rebranded companies continue as the largest growers/packers of tangerines in Florida, with 50% share and increasing. The family also has partnered with other growers, who have planted Juicy Crunch and Autumn Honey and have benefited from Noble Citrus harvesting, packing and marketing capabilities.

April is focused on strategic development of more grower partners and empowering the company’s management team to lead through the next phase of growth. She and her husband Kyle Porter are also major investors in new plantings of Juicy Crunch tangerines.

Geoff Roe is vice president of operations for Noble Ag, overseeing growing and grove management operations.

Adam Roe serves as chief operating officer of fruit operations for Noble Citrus, leading harvesting, packing, sales and marketing.

Third-generation leaders remain heavily involved. Morgan Roe is chief executive officer of Noble Citrus. Quentin remains president, with Bill continuing as vice president. Additionally, both Bill and Quentin assume active leadership coaching roles in grower partner development, growing operations and marketing/sales.

SUCCESSION PLANNING PRIORITIZED

The transition to the fourth generation taking the reins of leadership didn’t happen by accident. For any farm family, it is a complicated process. For the Roes, the expected growth over the next few years added a layer of complexity to the transition.

“The reality of it all is that we have been working toward a handover of generational control for more than five years,” Bill says.

“The process has had twists and turns, and Hurricane Ian certainly created new detours on the path we thought we were taking,” says Quentin. We decided to move to a partner-packing arrangement for our fruit. Our current 100-year-old packinghouse was not suitable for the significant changes that were needed based on our growth, and the new facility plans were pushed out.”

“Many family businesses struggle to transition to future generations. The process takes intentional effort and requires adaptability,” Morgan says. “In our case, we pivoted and employed the use of a very qualified family business consultant who has been extremely helpful for all of our generations to better see and understand differences in priorities and business philosophies. This is a step we highly recommend for other families that are in a succession-planning phase.”

“At some point, they are not your children. They are your leaders. The third-party consultant truly helps both generations understand where they are on that continuum,” Quentin adds.

Recognizing that growing and marketing skills are equal partners in the equation has been a critical part of the transition. “Knowing our horticultural business has always been a part of our charge,” Bill says.

BREEDING AND BRANDING

The idea of branding specific varieties of fresh Florida citrus is a relatively new innovation, and the Roes have taken the lead with their proprietary varieties. They took a cue from the apple industry that has had great success branding specific varieties.

It took nearly 40 years to develop new tangerine varieties. The program utilized micro-cuttings, splicing and careful pollination in a controlled lab environment on the farm. There were 1,600 unique varieties developed in the lab that were ready to plant in test plots.

“We thought we would be ready to go to market with new varieties in 12 to 15 years. But it wasn’t until 30 years into the process that we determined we had some winners and were ready for some commercial planting,” Quentin says. “Our learning is that there are no shortcuts to breeding for new varieties of citrus. Nor are there any guarantees you will be successful.”

“Even a few of our ‘winners’ failed during commercial trials,” Adam says. “We moved forward with patents, naming, packaging and protective trademarks and brought the first varieties to limited grocery distribution in 2018–19.

“As we got ready to brand and market these new proprietary varieties, the ultimate test for us was to bring in our established retail partners. Our new tangerines came back with great reviews from retail citrus buyers. We shared some of our planned branding. That, combined with the flavor profile, had buyers asking, ‘How much of these varieties can we get next year?’ It wasn’t just the Roe family saying they’re good.”

SUCCESS DESPITE HLB

While the citrus industry has been decimated by HLB, Bill notes the introduction of oxytetracycline (OTC) trunk injection has been a lifeline and has given the company confidence it can successfully produce crops. He says OTC combined with strong horticultural practices is a game changer.

The company worked with TJ BioTech to trial and develop its ReMedium TI OTC product, which is now being applied in groves. With confidence in the future, it is full steam ahead in growing and marketing proprietary varieties.

“Our family has invested heavily in the planting and growing of these new varieties. We have invited several growers to plant and grow with us,” says Geoff. “They are a significant part of our success. We will either farm their properties for them as a turn-key operation or advise them on growing practices, so their groves achieve the best results.”

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