PIECES OF THE PAST: Back When Bushel Baskets Were the Next Big Thing

Tacy Callies Pieces of the Past

By Brenda Eubanks Burnette While some things stay the same in citrus, others clearly do not. Today’s growers are experimenting with drones and other technology in the grove, but back in the 1920s, bushel baskets were making waves in the industry. Here’s an interesting excerpt from a March 1921 Citrus Industry article titled “Citrus Fruits in Bushel Baskets” by M.S. …

haffield

Haffield Reprises Role at IMG Citrus

Daniel Cooper Industry News Release

IMG Citrus, a family-owned, vertically-integrated citrus grower, packer and shipper in Vero Beach, Florida, renamed Todd Haffield as director of packinghouse operations. He previously held this role with the company from 2010 to 2017. Haffield has been with IMG Citrus since 1999 in various logistics and sales roles in addition to his director position. He contributed to many operational improvements, …

PIECES OF THE PAST: Juice Trains Roll On

Tacy Callies Pieces of the Past

By Brenda Eubanks Burnette Anthony T. Rossi, founder of Tropicana, immigrated to New York with the dream of making movies, but ended up in the grocery business for 13 years before heading to Florida in search of warmer weather. Using the skills he’d developed in the grocery business, he began packing gift fruit boxes for Macy’s and Gimbel’s, and jars …

HLB Early Detection Methods Available Now; More Coming Soon

Tacy Callies California Corner, HLB Management

By Len Wilcox Early detection has become a vital line of defense in the California citrus grower’s war with huanglongbing (HLB) disease. Without careful monitoring, any tree in the grove can become a ticking time bomb that could lead to destruction of the entire orchard. The disease starts unnoticed. Many months can pass before a tree displays any visible evidence …

PIECES OF THE PAST: Centennial Celebration

Tacy Callies History

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 …

Crate Labels: Marketing Tools Become American Art

Tacy Callies California Corner, History

By Len Wilcox The labels that citrus packinghouses formerly placed on their shipping crates have a long and colorful history. These vibrant labels — usually square, depicting a beautiful farm, pretty lady or perhaps some impossibly perfect oranges — have become art objects and unique representations of their time and place in history. LOCATIONS OF COLLECTIONS In Florida, that history …

New Planting Options for Citrus Growers

Tacy Callies Varieties

By Fred Gmitter, Ed Stover, Randy Driggers, Greg McCollum and Jude Grosser The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service citrus breeding program has a long history of releasing successful scion and rootstock cultivars. There had been a 15-year lapse in creating new hybrids, and the recently released cultivars largely reflect breeding efforts that preceded the onslaught of HLB …

PIECES OF THE PAST: A Sentimental Journey to Winter Park

Tacy Callies History

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 …

PIECES OF THE PAST: Now Hold On Just a Minute!

Tacy Callies History, Pieces of the Past

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 …

Citrus Production in Argentina

Tacy Callies lemons

By Stephen H. Futch and Ariel Singerman In May of 2017, we visited the northwestern citrus production region of Argentina in the provinces of Jujuy, Salta and Tucumán. The purpose of the trip was to learn more about Argentina’s citrus industry and programs being developed to deal with both the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and huanglongbing (HLB). Argentina has a …

Hunt Brothers Fellowship Grows Future Citrus Industry Leaders

Daniel Cooper Citrus, Industry News Release, Research

Even when Matt Mattia was studying tomato breeding as a master’s student at the University of Florida (UF), he was dreaming of citrus. Now a doctoral student at UF, he’s working toward achieving that dream of working in one of Florida’s most important industries. Thanks to the Hunt Brothers Fellowship, which funds graduate research in citrus, Mattia can live, work …

Moroccan Citrus: Increased Production Brings Marketing Challenges

Tacy Callies Citrus

By Hassan Farouk Ahmed Morocco’s citrus production reached 2.3 million metric tons (MT) in 2016–17, an increase of 15 percent over the previous marketing year. Orange production increased by 4 percent, to 962,250 MT, while tangerine and mandarin production increased 24 percent to 1,325,246 MT. Much of the increase in production was due to increases in the area harvested, as …

Korea Requirements for Fuller Rose Beetle

Len Wilcox California Corner, Pests

As in previous years, orange shipments to Korea must be free of Fuller rose beetle (FRB) and California red scale (CRS). Growers desiring to qualify oranges for export to South Korea must comply with the FRB protocol during the 2017-2018 shipping season. Growers are required to implement the following measures for FRB control on oranges: 1. Skirt-prune trees to prevent …

Summer Citrus from South Africa Planning Sessions 2017

Summer Citrus from South Africa Hosts 2017 Planning Session

Daniel Cooper Citrus, Industry News Release

This year’s Annual Planning Meeting, hosted by Summer Citrus from South Africa (SCSA) brought members from across the United States and Western Cape together to review sales and marketing plans, production volumes, shipping schedules and category trends to support the 2017 season. Seald Sweet International’s Mayda Sotomayor opened the planning sessions by introducing the growers, importers, retailers, marketing team and …

Global Perspectives

Brazil’s Shrinking Citrus Crop

Tacy Callies Citrus, Global Perspectives

By Marcos Fava Neves The latest announcement of Brazil’s orange production is 244 million boxes, almost 2 percent smaller than the September estimate (249 million boxes) and 0.6 percent smaller than the May number (246 million boxes). Hot weather in October and November reduced the expected yields. The crop is predicted to be 18 percent less than last season, and …

Georgia Citrus Association Annual Meeting Set

Ernie Neff Citrus, Nutrition

The Georgia Citrus Association (GCA) will hold its annual meeting February 27 in Tifton, Georgia. The meeting will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center. GCA Vice President Andy Jackson expects more than 100 to attend the meeting, including growers and exhibitors. Topics will include crop diversification, packing and …

Control of Stem-End Rot of Fresh Citrus

Tacy Callies Diseases

By Mark A. Ritenour, Jiuxu Zhang and Megan M. Dewdney Decay of fresh citrus fruit is most often caused by fungal pathogens that grow and develop in the hot and wet conditions typical in Florida. While green and blue molds (Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum) and sour rot (Galactomyces citri-aurantii) are the most common postharvest citrus diseases worldwide, the subtropical …

Slow-Release Fertilizer in the Grove

Tacy Callies Citrus Greening, Nutrition

Citrus Grower Sees Results with Slow-Release Fertilizer Pete Spyke, citrus grower and co-owner of The Orange Shop in Citra, hosted AgNet Media’s staff for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of his retail shop and gift-fruit shipping business. He detailed the history of the operation and led the staff on a tour of the packinghouse and test-plot grove. Spyke explained his use …

Essential Oil Could Help Prevent Citrus Black Spot

Kelsey Fry Citrus, Citrus Greening

By: Robin Koestoyo FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Dipping fruit after harvest with hot water and essential oil dips may reduce postharvest development of citrus black spot (CBS) lesions per fruit by up to 50 percent, according to new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) research. The new management techniques are the result of Jiaqi Yan’s recently …