1900s Tomatoes & Citrus Rise
The new century is a time of growth and ingenuity. By 1902 Peters’ tomato operation is a success and he is well on his way to becoming South Florida’s “Tomato King.”
To keep up with sizeable harvests and distribution, he builds a four-mile wooden track railroad from his packing house to the town of Cutler.
The mule-drawn rail cars haul nearly 1,000 crates of tomatoes per day and tomatoes become Dade County’s first multimillion dollar business.
Florida Agriculture College, along with three others, becomes the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1906. The Agricultural Experiment Station is brought into the fold as well.
The “Orange Queen” in Winter Haven, FL with tangerine and grapefruit packers, circa 1905. Photograph courtesy of Seald Sweet International.
The Jacksonville port of entry undergoes its second dredging and deepening project in 1906 to allow larger ships to enter the main channel of the St. Johns River.
On June 21, 1909, a group of growers join forces in Tampa to establish the Florida Citrus Exchange, which will later become Seald Sweet International.
The growers come together believing there has to be a better way to grow and market their fruit, and standardize practices.
The group travels to California to observe a similar citrus cooperative—the California Fruit Growers Exchange—better known today as Sunkist.
“In the early 1900s, you can imagine what a feat it was for them to travel that far,” muses Kim Flores, Seald Sweet’s director of marketing.
“They traveled by horseback, train, wagon—you name it,” Flores continues.
“They went to California and stayed for a couple of months; they watched the operational practices and spent time with the growers and learned how to do a better job. After studying that business model, they brought the knowledge back to Florida and established our cooperative. The growers who founded us were true pioneers in the industry,” praises Flores.
1900s Tomatoes & Citrus Rise
The new century is a time of growth and ingenuity. By 1902 Peters’ tomato operation is a success and he is well on his way to becoming South Florida’s “Tomato King.”
To keep up with sizeable harvests and distribution, he builds a four-mile wooden track railroad from his packing house to the town of Cutler.
The mule-drawn rail cars haul nearly 1,000 crates of tomatoes per day and tomatoes become Dade County’s first multimillion dollar business.
Florida Agriculture College, along with three others, becomes the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1906. The Agricultural Experiment Station is brought into the fold as well.
The “Orange Queen” in Winter Haven, FL with tangerine and grapefruit packers, circa 1905. Photograph courtesy of Seald Sweet International.
The Jacksonville port of entry undergoes its second dredging and deepening project in 1906 to allow larger ships to enter the main channel of the St. Johns River.
On June 21, 1909, a group of growers join forces in Tampa to establish the Florida Citrus Exchange, which will later become Seald Sweet International.
The growers come together believing there has to be a better way to grow and market their fruit, and standardize practices.
The group travels to California to observe a similar citrus cooperative—the California Fruit Growers Exchange—better known today as Sunkist.
“In the early 1900s, you can imagine what a feat it was for them to travel that far,” muses Kim Flores, Seald Sweet’s director of marketing.
“They traveled by horseback, train, wagon—you name it,” Flores continues.
“They went to California and stayed for a couple of months; they watched the operational practices and spent time with the growers and learned how to do a better job. After studying that business model, they brought the knowledge back to Florida and established our cooperative. The growers who founded us were true pioneers in the industry,” praises Flores.
1910s Fashioning A Port
Construction is completed in 1912 on the channel from the ocean into downtown Miami, for ships and ferries, laying the groundwork for a future port of entry.
In 1915, the Agricultural Extension Service is established. University agricultural programs involving the College of Agriculture, Exper-iment Station, and Extension Service will eventually evolve into the present Institute of Food and Agricultural Science.
The same year, Florida citrus production skyrockets to 10 million boxes.
The Jacksonville port is again overrun by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who deepen the channel from 24 to 30 feet in 1916.
An early load of citrus, circa 1910. Photograph courtesy of Seald Sweet International.
On September 10, 1919, Key West is hit by a powerful hurricane that causes significant crop damage and leaves more than 800 people dead.
1920s Weather & Pests
In the 1920s, Hoyle Pounds, a Ford Motor Company tractor dealer in Winter Garden, receives complaints from citrus growers and other tractor owners.
The farmers are facing new laws forbidding metal wheels from crossing Orange County highways as the metal cleats are damaging the newly paved roads. Pounds orders large, hard rubber tires designed for oil-drilling equipment from Oklahoma.
In the midst of Pounds’ experimenting and eventual success, the southern tip of Florida falls victim to the hurricane of 1926, devastating the Miami and Fort Lauderdale region and its agriculture.
Pounds is granted a patent for his rim and lug design for airless tires on March 13, 1928. Because the rubber wheels make tractors faster and increase their mobility, Pounds’ invention revolutionizes all movable farm equipment.
Months later, another hurricane in late September 1928 with 125 mile-per-hour winds, slams into Palm Beach.
Although the storm causes minimal coastal damage, 40 miles inland the storm surge pushes water out of the southern edge of the Lake Okeechobee, flooding hundreds of miles.
Houses and buildings are swept away in Belle Glade, Canal Point, Chosen, Pahokee, and South Bay, killing an estimated 2,500 people—mostly African-American sugar plantation workers, making it the deadliest hurricane in Florida history.
As the Great Depression rears its ugly head, Florida farmers discover a tiny little fly that will have a significant effect on the ag industry.
An early Florida Citrus Exchange packinghouse with the motto overhead: “A doubtful orange is a cull,” circa early 1910s. Photograph courtesy of Seald Sweet International.
One of the world’s most destructive pests, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly for short) spreads quickly and results in mass citrus losses across the Sunshine State.
The threat unites state and federal forces to help stop the pest’s destruction.
The eradication effort spans 20 counties and involves trapping, scouting, bait sprays, stricter controls in groves and packin houses, and division of the state into infested and protective zones.
By the time officials declare the Medfly eradicated the next year, the program has cost around $7.5 million.
Harris Wishnatzki arrives in Plant City in 1929, an immigrant from Russia who had been living in New York City since 1900. He begins selling produce from a pushcart, which eventually blossoms into a wholesale business.
“When my grandfather Harris Wishnatzki first came to Plant City, the industry was much different,” says Gary Wishnatzki, president and CEO of Wish Farms, in Plant City.
“The size of the farm then was only as big as the size of the family; the more kids you had, the more pickers you had,” Wishnatzi explains. “There were literally thousands of small growers, with no onehaving more than a few acres.”
1930s Markets Grow
On September 6, 1930, George W. Jenkins opens a grocery store in Winter Haven, called Publix Food Store.
Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades becomes the state’s next official port of entry in 1931. In the decades ahead, the port becomes a major hub for fruit and vegetable imports, especially bananas from Central America.
In 1933, on a mission to produce better citrus products, a small group of Florida citrus growers form a cooperative.
Citrus pickers at McLean Grove in South Brandon, FL, circa 1910. Photograph courtesy of Seal Sweet International.
The group will eventually become known as Florida’s Natural and in the twenty-first century becomes one of the largest citrus grower cooperatives with 1,000 grower-owners working 60,000-plus acres of groves in the heart of Central Florida.
On September 10, 1934 the Tampa Wholesale Produce Market opens just minutes from downtown on Hillsborough Avenue. It becomes home to a number of distributors that sell to nearby retailers, hospitality businesses, and restaurants throughout the Tampa Bay area.
The same year, in 1934, Florida’s very first farmers’ market opens in Sanford in December. Sanford State Farmers Market provides a central location where growers can sell their produce directly to consumers.
Within just a few years, the market is bringing in sales of $500,000 annually.
Jenkins’ grocery store is so well received by the community, be builds a second location across town in 1935.
In the same year, 1935, Palm Beach Harbor becomes an official port of entry as the aptly titled Port of Palm Beach.
The farmers’ market trend continues in 1937 when the Wauchula Farmers Market opens about 70 miles outside of Tampa. It will eventually cover 10 acres and bring in nearly $40 million in annual sales.
The next year, in 1938, three more farmers’ markets open across the Sunshine State: Jacksonville Farmers Market, the Starke State Farmers Market, and the Palatka State Farmers Market.
Florida’s citrus industry achieves a first in this year as well, as Florida’s Natural invests in juice-extracting machines—a technology that leads to the innovation of canned orange juice.
Grapefruit canning factory, circa 1937. Image: Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com
In 1939 the Davis family, owners of Florida’s Table Supply chain, purchases half of Jacksonville-based Winn & Lovett’s 73 grocery stores. On the wholesale side of the market, approximately 25 miles east of Tampa becomes the home of another open-air market: the Plant City Farmers Market, established in 1939.
Decades later, it includes more than 100 vendors, spans 9-plus acres and moves nearly $44 million in product a year.
Yet another market opens in southeast Florida the same year: the Pompano Farmers Market, which will encompass more than 12 acres and sell more than $56 million annually by the twenty-first century.
1940s Revolutionary Retail
Jenkins closes his first two grocery stores in 1940 to make way for the first Publix Super Market, his dream store.
The new and improved market includes innovations such as air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, electric doors, and Italian Terrazzo floors. During the same year, several Central Florida citrus farmers form Florida Citrus Growers, Inc. to help strenghten the state’s citrus industry. The organization, headed by George L. Fullerton, reaches out to the American Farm Bureau Federation in Chicago for help in creating an affiliated farm bureau in Florida.
The open-air wholesale market trend continues throughout the state as well, with the opening of the Fort Pierce Farmers Market near the Atlantic coast, also in 1940.
The Florida City Farmers Market is also established that year, located just 35 miles south of Miami. Both markets still exist today, with Fort Pierce ringing up annual sales of $26 million and Florida City in the range of $50 million each year.
In 1941, Florida’s Natural constructs a concentrate plant in Lake Wales to provide juice for the military during World War II.
In March 1942 the first county farm bureau is formed in Dade County. A month later, county bureaus are formed in Volusia, Hillsborough, St. Lucie, Lee, Manatee-Sarasota, Indian River, and Polk counties.
By the time the Florida Farm Bureau Federation celebrates its first birthday in Miami, membership has reached 1,180 members, and 17 county farm bureaus have been established.
The Florida Vegetable Committee of the Florida Farm Bureau is established in 1943 to serve Florida’s grower-shipper community.
The Committee (later renamed the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association) seeks to enhance the business and competitive environment for producing and marketing Florida fruits and vegetables.
Lisa F. Lochridge, director of public affairs for today’s Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, finds the original mission is still true today: The individual farmer cannot continue without the direct aid and moral support of an organized group of fellow farmers to cope with bureaucratic agencies, labor problems, constantly changing economic conditions, and restricted and controlled markets and supply.
“Even after decades of committed work on behalf of Florida’s specialty crop producers, it’s remarkable that we face many of the same issues today,” Lockridge marvels. “We’ve come a long way, but our work on the challenges for producers continues.”
As the FFVA evolves, it comes to manage several commodity exchanges for Florida producers, including the Florida Sweet Corn Exchange, the Sweet Corn Growers Exchange, the Quincy Tomato Exchange, and the Florida Vegetable Exchange.
The exchanges help producers manage marketing programs and monitor production conditions. The Association is also a key contributor to the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, a group working to reduce trade barriers between the U.S. and Canada. On the retail side of the industry, the Davis brothers move their headquarters to Jacksonville in 1944 and adopt the Winn & Lovett name. The next year, 1945, the brothers begin acquiring other stores in Florida as well as Kentucky to add to the new chain.
Also in 1945, Publix founder George Jenkins acquires a warehouse and the All American grocery chain from the Lakeland Grocery Company. He begins replacing the 19 small stores with larger supermarkets, focusing on offering a meticulously clean shopping environment, friendly service, and quality merchandise. While Jenkins plans to revolutionize the retail aspect of the marketplace, another farmers’ market joins the ranks in Fort Myers near the Gulf Coast. Situated on 20-plus acres, the Fort Myers Farmers Market will climb to more than $27 million in annual sales. By 1947 grapefruit prices have climbed to 13 cents per box from a low of 5 cents per box during the Depression.
1950s Fly Invasions
By 1950, Manatee County Fly Invasion is cultivating 2,234 acres of tomatoes, well on its way to dominating the fresh tomato market.
This same year, Florida’s citrus industry sets a new record, shipping 100 million boxes. In the summer of the same year, a small group of local farmers establish a marketing cooperative called Pioneer Growers to handle and market their fresh vegetables.
Pioneer Growers Cooperative quickly becomes a major grower-shipper handling more than 2 million packages per year.
Plant City’s farmers’ market, 1950. Photograph courtesy of State Archives of Florida.
“Pioneer is a growers-owned cooperative that consists of growers from Homestead to South Georgia with its main office in Belle Glade,” explains Gene Duff, executive vice president and general manager of Pioneer Growers Cooperative.
“It was founded to give individual growers access to modern packing and marketing,” notes Duff. “In the early stages, we had more members, but they were small growers. Today we have fewer but larger members.”About 50 miles northeast of Naples, Immokalee Farmers’ Market opens in 1951. Today, the market spans more than 25 acres with sales of $12 million each year. In 1952 Winn & Lovett is the first Florida industrial corporation to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Port Canaveral, on the Sunshine State’s eastern coastline, becomes an official port of entry in 1953.
Three years later, in 1955 Winn & Lovett purchases 117 Dixie Home supermarkets in the Carolinas and rebrands as Winn-Dixie.
Florida falls prey to a second Medfly invasion in 1956: larvae are detected in grapefruit at Miami Shores, then found in 28 counties from Seminole to Key West.
Regulators use fumigation tactics with airborne spraying (27 planes in operation daily), applying insecticide to nearly 7 million acres the state. The National Guard sets up roadblocks on major highways to regulate the movement of potentially infested produce out of Florida. Nearly 18 months and $11 million later, the eradication campaign proves successful.
Squash field, circa 1964. Photograph courtesy of Marie Bedner, Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market.
Tanker ships with Florida orange juice begin sailing from Port Canaveral to New York in 1958. In the years to come, orange juice shipments become the state’s leading export.
To commemorate its 50th anniversary in 1959, the Florida Citrus Exchange changes its name to match one of its trademarked brands and becomes Seald Sweet Growers, Inc.
1960s Ports & Hurricanes
The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida is founded in July 1960 by 54 farmer-members outside of West Palm Beach. The group’s goal is to provide a means to harvest, mill, process, and market sugar and its by products to bring stability to grower operations.
The Port of Miami is designated as an official port of entry for domestic and international trade. A couple months later, in September 1960, Hurricane Donna storms across the Keys before making landfall at Fort Myers.
Four years later in 1964, Hurricane Cleo strikes the Miami metro area, causing $125 million in damage and destroying a quarter of the grapefruit crop in the Indian River citrus producing region.
The same year, 1964, the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) makes its first appearance in the Sunshine State.
When left unchecked, the pest can wreak havoc with fruit and vegetable crops, wiping out up to half of an area’s planted fields. University scientists initiate a quarantine to contain the destructive insect.
In 1965, another location joins the extensive network of farmers’ markets in the state: the Trenton Farmers Market opens its doors just 30 miles west of the University of Florida.
The Florida Watermelon Association is founded in 1968 in Immokalee to unite growers across the state and promote Florida-grown watermelons.
Grading long hot peppers, circa 1965. Photograph courtesy of Marie Bedner, Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market.
In 1969 Florida’s legislature reorganizes the Commissioner of Agriculture and establishes the Division of Consumer Services and the Division of Forestry. To include its new responsibilities, the Legislature renames the department “Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.” The same year, Winn-Dixie’s retail reach has grown to 715 stores throughout the South.
1970s An Epic Freeze
In 1971, Florida citrus growers harvest the first crop to exceed 200 million boxes of fruit. The Florida Tomato Committee is established three years later in 1974, and Wayne Hawkins is hired as the organization’s manager.
The committee regulates the handling of tomatoes grown in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola, and Brevard counties and funds research, development and marketing projects.
Florida experiences a record-breaking freeze on January 18, 1977.
“I remember that freeze,” reflects Edward Myrick, president of Edward L. Myrick Produce, Inc., headquartered at the Pompano State Farmers Market. “We had a big thermometer at the market, and at 6:00 pm that day, it read 32 degrees.”
The freeze lasts for three days, devastating Florida citrus and vegetable plants. President Jimmy Carter proclaims 34 Florida counties disaster areas.
“I was farming in LaBelle at the time,” recalls Elmer C. Mott, president of Collier Tomato & Vegetable Distributors, Inc. in Arcadia.
“I had 75 acres of tomatoes when the freeze hit,” Mott remembers, “and it certainly affected my operation. It was a rough season.”
“When it happened, a lot of the buyers here left and went to Mexico,” explains Myrick. “I stayed and imported product from Mexico, but you couldn’t sell Mexican product on the market back then.” Myrick brought in product from the Caribbean as well. “I sent my brother down there and told him to look for anything green.”
SIGNIFICANT SUNSHINE STATE DATES
1920s – Hoyle Pounds, a tractor dealer in Florida, invents the rubber wheel for farm equipment
1929 – The Mediterranean fruit fly results in massive loss of Florida citrus crops
1930 – First Publix store founded in Winter Haven, Florida by George W. Jenkins
1934 – First farmers’ market opens in Sanford
1941 – First Florida Farm Bureau Federation (FBBF) convention is held
1941 – The University of Florida Engineering and Industrial Experiment Station is established
1943 – The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) is established
1950 – Citrus harvests top 100 million boxes for the first time
1969 – Winn-Dixie operates 715 stores throughout the South
1971 – Citrus harvest tops 200 million boxes
1977 – Severe cold devastates Florida citrus and vegetable plants and President Carter proclaims 34 counties disaster areas
1980 – Publix celebrates 50 years in business
1990 – “Fresh from Florida” logo and branding initiative is founded
1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement takes effect
Early 1980s Retail & Berries
In 1980 Publix celebrates 50 years in business and produces a book to commemorate the milestone, 50 Years of Pleasure by Patt Watters. “I think Publix has led the industry as far as quality upgrading,” remarks Mott.
The chain not only set a standard for other supermarkets and produce vendors, Mott says, but “really concentrates on good fresh produce and trying to give customers the best.”
In 1982 the Florida Strawberry Growers Association is founded by a handful of farmers in the Plant City-Dover area in Hillsborough County.
The region, renowned as the “Winter Strawberry Capital of the World,” welcomes the new ally as the organization becomes a powerful voice for the state’s berry growers.
In 1983 Winn-Dixie is ranked as America’s 11th largest retailer, with hundreds of outlets operating throughout the South.
The chain opens its first Winn-Dixie Marketplace store, a 45,000-square-foot facility in Valdosta, Georgia in 1984.
Picking bell peppers, circa 1965. Photograph courtesy of Marie Bedner, Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market.
The Medfly strikes Florida once again in 1985 with a series of infestations in the Miami area. Occurring at the same time as a citrus canker outbreak, this Medfly invasion is particularly devastating to South Florida growers.
‘Sterile insect technology,’ the practice of releasing millions of sterile insects (generally male) into the wild to reduce reproduction, is introduced in Florida. It is used in conjunction with traditional aerial pesticide treatments to control the infestation.
Mid- to Late 1980s Technology & Tomatoes
The practice of using polyethylene mulch to conserve moisture and limit weeds catches on with Florida growers. “The movement from an open-bed cultivation to the use of plastic as mulch changed our lives as we knew it,” declares Mott, who had used plastic in Tennessee and brought the practice with him.
“It helped with disease control, and it reduced water use significantly because it allowed us to go to drip irrigation as opposed to open ditch irrigation. To me, that was the biggest thing that improved and saved our industry, and allowed us to reduce our use of water,” pronounces Mott.
Myrick, too, applauds the use of plastic mulching. “The practice progressed through the 1980s and 1990s,” he observes, making “it easier to grow vegetables and led to a better product.” A new program, Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc., is founded in 1986. A nonprofit organization, its goal is to educate students about the importance of the state’s agriculture.
The group funds projects through grants and is supported by sales of the state’s specialty license plate called the ‘Ag Tag’—since its inception, the organization has awarded more than $400,000 in teacher and volunteer grant money.
In 1987 the Florida’s Natural cooperative commits to never-from-concentrate juices. This is when the Florida’s Natural brand is officially born.
The same year, the Florida Organic Growers group is established as a grassroots organization; eventually, it includes more than 150 certified organic farms across the Sunshine State.
First pepper harvester (also known as a mule train) at Bedner’s farm, circa 1974. Photograph courtesy of Marie Bedner, Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market.
The next year, 1988, brings the Suwannee Valley Farmers Market to White Springs, a small town on the banks of the Suwannee River. It will become one of the state’s behemoths at 126 acres, moving more than $250 million in fresh food each year.
The number of commercial tomato growers in Florida plummets during the decade. In an effort to bolster the state’s tomato industry, Wayne Hawkins, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee organizes the first Florida Tomato Growers Exchange in 1989.
The exchange gives member growers the opportunity to establish “floor” and “trigger” pricing, which leads to more cooperative and effective marketing.
Early 1990s Andrew & NAFTA
By 1990 Florida ranks eighth in the nation for agriculture with just over $6 billion in cash receipts.
The Florida Legislature establishes the “Florida Agricultural Promotional Campaign,” which leads to the ‘Fresh from Florida’ logo and branding initiative.
Publix opens its first store outside the state of Florida in Savannah, Georgia in 1991. Soon after, the company establishes its Atlanta Division.
Also in 1991, the Florida Specialty Crop Foundation is founded by the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association to support research and educational activities that benefit producers and farmworker families.
The Foundation goes on to raise more than $8 million through public support, government grants, and special events.
The Florida Blueberry Growers Association is established in 1992 and over the next decade, there’s an explosion of dedicated blueberry growers across the “blueberry belt” in Central Florida.
On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew tears into South Florida, obliterating a large portion of Homestead and destroying tens of thousands of homes and growing acreage.
The Category 5 storm causes a total of $26.5 billion in U.S. damages, including significant crop losses in South Florida.
After the hurricane, for the 1992-93 season, there are 2.3 million remaining navel orange bearing trees, 26.3 million Valencia orange trees, 4.2 million white seedless grapefruit trees, and 6.0 million colored seedless grapefruit trees in the state.
In January 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) takes effect, sending shockwaves through Florida’s produce industry. “Out of all the events in history, NAFTA has had the biggest impact on us,” says Bender. “Mexico is our direct competitor, but not on a level playing field due to the lack of regulation.” Mott echoes the opinion. “With NAFTA, we don’t have tariffs imposed on imports from Mexico,” he says.
“Plus, they have the ability to produce a package of tomatoes or other products for a good bit less than we can, simply because labor is so much cheaper,” Mott laments. “So it makes it really hard for Florida farmers to compete in the wintertime.”
Mid- to Late 1990s Fighting Pests Again
In 1995, Winn-Dixie purchases 25 Thriftway stores in Ohio. The next year, the grocery chain installs its first self-checkout system, which will be rolled out in several stores.
The year also marks another milestone with the formation of the New North Florida Cooperative Association.
It is founded by a group of African-American farmers, who then create the ‘Farm to School’ program, partnering local farms with elementary, middle, and high schools to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to school cafeterias.
Since its founding, the program has rapidly expanded, now selling to school districts throughout Florida, as well as in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
In 1996, Publix founder Jenkins dies at age 89. “I met Publix founder George Jenkins back in the early 1970s,” recalls Collier Tomato’s Mott. “He was a real leader in the supermarket industry.”
For the 1996-97 season, there are 3.2 million navel orange bearing trees (up 90,000 since Huricane Andrew), 38.2 million Valencia orange trees (up an astonishing 11.9 million), 5.2 million white seedless grapefruit trees (up 1 million), and 8.7 million colored seedless grapefruit trees (up 2.7 million) throughout the state.
Medflies are again discovered, in 1997 in Hillsborough County, with the outbreak eventually affecting hundreds of square miles and multiple counties. Aerial treatments and the release of billions of sterile Medflies helps eradicate the pest again. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) begins funding an ongoing sterile release program to prevent future infestations.
Florida reaches a new peak for citrus, selling 244 million boxes of oranges during the 1997-98 season. “After 1998, that’s when we really started to see a bit of a decline,” recalls Seald Sweet’s Flores.
“It became harder and harder for growers to maintain profitability, and real estate became more lucrative in Florida, so a lot of growers started selling off their land.”
In 1998, the 65-year-old Florida’s Natural cooperative changes its name to Florida’s Natural Growers.
The “Orange Queen” in Winter Haven, FL with tangerine and grapefruit packers, circa 1905.
An early load of citrus, circa 1910.
Citrus pickers at McLean Grove in South Brandon, FL, circa 1910.
Grapefruit canning factory, circa 1937.
Squash field, circa 1964.
Grading long hot peppers, circa 1965.
Picking bell peppers, circa 1965.
First pepper harvester (also known as a mule train) at Bedner’s farm, circa 1974.