The Orange

Florida citrus poised for award

Nominations have been opened for an award to recognise influential and innovative citrus growers throughout the industry in Florida.

Fla. oranges make it through deep freeze

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Citrus growers and vegetable growers appeared Thursday to have weathered the statewide freeze better than expected, but tomato growers took a hit as temperatures stayed below freezing long enough to cause damage to some of those crops.

Let the sunshine in

Juicy citrus is a reminder to us that somewhere, it's summerlike.

Coming back to citrus

Deep inside the Wm. G. Roe & Sons packinghouse is a tall, good-looking young man who is among a dying breed in Florida. William G. Roe III graduated cum laude in economics from Amherst College in Massachusetts four years ago, then said heartfelt goodbyes to friends bound for New York. They were chasing dreams of riches in the world of investment banking. Roe came home, where his dreams lay waiting.

Chapter 25: A shrinking role for hands

In the world of mechanical citrus harvesting, where agribusiness meets science fiction, there are trunk shakers and canopy shakers. Trunk shakers live up to their name. A machine with a mechanical arm simply grabs the base of an orange tree, jostles fruit loose into a ground-level catch system, then moves on to the next tree. Canopy shakers, though, take harvesting to another level. These machines work in pairs — pairs that cost $1 million. In a diesel-powered parade, they roll down both sides of a row of trees. Each carries vertical agitators that look like round hair brushes. The steel bristles on those brushes reach into the canopy of an orange tree and shake branches back and forth.

Chapter 24: Call of the groves

Robin Bryant, a Palmetto citrus consultant, keeps a pair of boots outside her front door. When a client calls, she pulls on those boots and climbs into her Hummer. In three hours, she can reach just about any grove in Florida. Have fruit, will travel.