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Planting crops, sowing hope

It's planting time, and optimism among farmers still blooms, despite unfavorable weather, pests and competition.

Fall officially arrived Tuesday.

It's the season of Thanksgiving, and, presumably, as the quintessential American holiday suggests, harvest.

But in Florida, which supplies 50 percent of the country's winter fruits and vegetables, it's planting season.

Farmers in southeastern Hillsborough are preparing their fields for strawberries, tomatoes and vegetables that account for more than 40 percent of the county's $626-million annual agricultural sales.

They hope in the coming months to reap enough of what they sow to do it all again next year.

But there are no guarantees.

Farmers are planting their crops in the face of increased costs for supplies, encroaching development, competition from abroad, restrictive regulations and the capriciousness of Mother Nature.

To survive, they have to love what they do, maintain a positive outlook and be highly adaptable.

"If you're not optimistic at this time of year you have no business being in the farming business," said Chip Hinton, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

Farmers are an independent bunch, he said.

They're risk takers. Every year, they put almost everything they own on the line.

Strawberry farmers, for example, invest at least $11,000 in every acre they plant.

And they'll do it this year, even though last year was a devastatingly bad strawberry season.

An extremely cold fall, early winter, wet December, and near-catastrophic freeze in January were followed by unseasonable heat.

Such weather extremes are deadly for strawberries, Hinton said.

On top of that, berry farmers lost between 300,000 and 400,000 flats to hungry robins, a phenomenon that occurs every 5 or so years, and perfect weather in California produced a bumper crop of berries in that state.

The confluence of events cost the county's strawberry industry $43-million.

A fledgling federal farm insurance program helped some local farmers, but a few closed their doors, including Walden-Sparkman, a venerable Plant City packer, grower and agricultural supplier.

This year's Farmer's Almanac, a centuries-old predictor of weather, forecasts a repeat of last year's weather patterns: below-normal temperatures in December and January and above-normal temperatures in February and March.

Strawberry grower Mike Lott isn't fazed by the less-than-rosy prediction. He's moving full steam ahead with planting.

"Am I gonna quit? No. I'm a farmer. I love the life," Lott said by cell phone while riding a tractor on his Seffner farm. "You put a lot of faith in God and go with it."

Likewise, Joe Willis, 28, a fifth-generation Florida farmer who just planted rows of tomatoes on 35 acres in Wimauma, carries on despite unfavorable weather, pests, new viruses and competition from Mexico.

"We're going to raise a crop. And if you raise a decent crop, you've got a chance," Willis said.

Despite the hardships, Hillsborough County remains fertile ground for agriculture with more than 37 percent of the county's acreage used for farmland.

The industry has survived by adapting.

Strawberry researchers work to breed fruit that's disease resistant, and one local farmer this year is experimenting with growing berries in a greenhouse.

Gone are the dairy farms that required huge amounts of land. And citrus groves, also a land-intensive industry, are on the decline. The citrus industry has been dogged by disease, competition from growers in Brazil and residential development.

"Citrus land is usually the best to put a house on because the land is high and dry," said Stephen Gran, the county's Agriculture Industry Development manager.

Meanwhile, the number of acres devoted to strawberries, landscape plants such as sago palms and other crops that earn a lot of money on a little land has increased.

Today, about 10 percent of Hillsborough's farmland produces 66 percent of annual sales.

"Many types of agriculture can compete with money generated by residential construction," Gran said.

Lott, whose strawberry farm has grown from 18 acres in 1978 to 30 acres today, recently bought 20 acres of abandoned orange grove. Eventually he will plant strawberries, which earn more money per acre than oranges.

Willis is maximizing the value of his real estate by planting watermelons, which in recent years have subsidized his tomato crop.

"The tomato business is tough and it's getting tougher every day," Willis said. "You have to diversify to survive."

His frustration is palpable.

Only 28 years old, he points to gray hairs at his temples and attributes it to farming. His cheeks are sunburned, and he hasn't had a day off in over a month.

And still, there's no guarantee he'll turn a profit from this planting.

Standing between the rows of young green plants, it's clear why he continues.

"I love doing this," Willis said. "At the end of the crop, if I didn't make a dime, if I lost my butt, I'm still going to feel good knowing I raised a good crop."