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Below you'll see everything we could locate for your search of “pieces of the past”
Take a shot at nominating a deserving industry member for the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. By Brenda Eubanks Burnette A few years ago, I was approached by someone at an industry function whose opening line was “I gotta talk to you!” So, we walked out into the hallway to chat. He immediately started jabbing his finger at me and …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette Frostproof will celebrate its 100th year beginning at noon on Sept. 1, 2018. The Frostproof Centennial Committee has been posting a number of articles on its Facebook page in honor of the celebration. One of the articles noted how Frostproof was incorporated. On June 18, 1918, at 3:00 p.m., 47 Frostproof men met in the Thompson …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I was in Fort Pierce recently doing interviews for an oral history project and ran across some interesting photos and information on O.C. Minton, who was inducted into the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame in 1982. A hard worker who was totally dedicated to the Florida citrus industry, Minton’s defining moments came when fighting for identification …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette Summertime is always a good time for reading. I recently received a new book titled “Winter Garden Change Makers,” written by my friend, Jerry Chicone, Jr. He dedicated the book to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation to “encourage more people to step forward to make positive changes for their hometown.” The book is a tribute to …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I love scouring eBay and antique stores for citrus memorabilia because it’s always interesting to see how we, as an industry, used to do things “back in the day.” With that said, I recently came across an old ad from the Florida Citrus Processors Association for citrus pulp titled “Love at first bite because it’s highest …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette This year’s Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival poster featured a look reminiscent of the old citrus crate labels. The artist, Florida native Don Dewitt, noted the poster was also a “nod” to the Winter Park Farmers’ Market located by the old train depot on New England Avenue. The depot was built in 1926 when Winter Park …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I was driving from Winter Haven to Palm Beach Gardens recently, taking the “back” way on Waverly Road. Once called Kissimmee Road, it was originally used to get from Florida’s west coast to the Kissimmee River. As I drove by the old office, packinghouse and welcome house of Waverly Growers Cooperative, I remembered what a beautiful …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I recently came across a postcard in my collection that featured the Orlando headquarters of the Minute Maid Corporation, which made me curious about how the company started. The back of the postcard reads: “National Headquarters of Minute Maid Corporation in Orlando, Fla. Located near the heart of Florida’s rolling citrus grove country, at the intersection …
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette The citrus industry drew people to Florida with dreams of wealth and retirement, and their livelihood was widely marketed by not only the citrus packinghouses who sold their fruit, but also by their respective chambers of commerce and tourism partners across the state. Florida State Representative Tom Rooney noted in a recent opinion piece that, “The …
By Gülcan Önel and Derek Farnsworth The U.S. agricultural sector has a long history of dependence on foreign workers, and the Florida citrus industry is no exception. Even though mechanical harvesting systems saw increased usage between 1999 and 2006, the discovery of citrus greening in 2005 and its subsequent spread across Florida virtually eliminated mechanical harvesting efforts by 2015 in …
Tropicana Products Inc. advised the state of Florida in a July 15 letter that it will shut down its Fort Pierce processing plant on or about Sept. 13. The notification came in a letter from Tropicana human resources representative Jennifer Kane to the State Rapid Response Program. The program works to prevent or minimize the impacts of layoffs on workers, …
It’s no secret that the most damaging pest in Florida citrus is the Asian citrus psyllid. But there are other bugs growers need to watch out for, too. The January issue of Citrus Industry magazine takes a look at current pests of concern and offers management methods. An article on HLB reduction strategies focuses on tools growers can use to …
Hurricane recovery assistance was top of mind when citrus growers met with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin April 11 in Highlands County. “The primary topic of conversation during the roundtable was encouraging Sen. Scott and Congressman Franklin to do everything in their power to get the Block Grant Assistance Act passed through Congress as quickly as …
The Gulf Citrus Growers Association (GCGA) hosted a luncheon on Dec. 7 at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center featuring a presentation by Tom Johnson, chief executive officer of TJ BioTech. The company is the manufacturer of ReMedium TI, the widely discussed formulation of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC-HCI) that has shown promise as a treatment for HLB. The product is …
By Arnold Schumann, Laura Waldo, Chris Oswalt, Napoleon Mariner, Timothy Ebert, Perseveranca Mungofa, Shankar Shrestha and Laura Cano-Castro Florida grapefruit production for the 2021–22 season was 92% less than in 2003–04, which was prior to the arrival of huanglongbing (HLB) disease [Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, (USDA NASS)]. The decrease in Florida tangerine production for the …
Scouting: The tip of the IPM spear By Matt Smith Editor’s note: This article grants one continuing education unit (CEU) in the Core category toward the renewal of a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services restricted-use pesticide license when the accompanying test is submitted and approved. Why would you scout? Despite what we were all promised by Tomorrowland and …
This year’s Citrus Nutrition Day — at which growers will learn the latest data about growing the fruit, from the soil up through the plants — is expanding to include tours of field trials. After a morning of updates from University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers, participants may tour field sites at the Peace River …
Florida’s struggling and storm-battered citrus industry took another hit Thursday as the orange crop forecast for the current growing season was reduced by 7.4 percent. And industry officials anticipate the forecasts will continue to decline as the season progresses. “Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be the last decrease we see,” said Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department …
Candi Erick is keenly involved in production of Florida’s citrus crop forecasts. She’s easy to get along with, but there is one way to get under her skin. By Ernie Neff If you want to irritate Candi Erick, whose primary job is overseeing data collection leading to Florida’s citrus crop forecasts, just tell her, “It’s good enough for government work.” …
