Hernando and Pasco farms, whittled down over the years by freezes and development, rise in importance after storms ruined citrus crops of others.
By JAMES THORNER
Published October 18, 2004
The citrus business has been in steady decline on the North Suncoast, vexed by disease and suburban development. But for a brief moment this fall, it's as if happy days are here again.
You can thank Hurricanes Charley, Jeanne and Frances. Because of the hobbled competition - high winds in some counties prematurely stripped up to 75 percent of the fruit from trees - local growers are poised to pocket the price increases.
Farmers such as Ted Schrader, who doubles as a Pasco County commissioner, could reap three times as much this year for fresh navel oranges. His family earned about $2.50 per box for navels last year.
"I'm starting to hear cash prices of $9 per box," said Schrader, whose family owns 300 acres of citrus in east Pasco. "We haven't heard those prices since 1979."
Juice oranges like Hamlin and Valencia dominate the Pasco crop, but a glut of juice in cold storage from last year is partially offsetting any gains.
But with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting the smallest Florida citrus crop in 13 years, the market is also improving for juice growers not hit by the hurricanes, North Suncoast growers among them.
"Growers should make more money this year," said Ted Williams, a former Pasco property appraiser involved for years in citrus. "You hate to make extra money on the back of those poor people in South Florida."
Hernando County has about 1,000 acres of citrus, down from 9,000 acres decades ago, prior to several devastating freezes. The owners of Boyett Grove in Spring Lake expect the hurricanes to boost their cash registers only somewhat. Frances and Jeanne inflicted limited damage to Boyett Grove's 100 acres of citrus, including oranges, tangerines and tangelos, Kathy Oleson said.
"We're in good shape. We have plenty of fruit," said Oleson, who operates out of the fruit and gift shop on Spring Lake Highway. The business typically sells half of its crop retail, and the other half to processors.
In terms of prices, Hernando customers do not have to worry about a spike, she said.
"What they are going to see on the retail counter, it may be a little more, but it won't be drastic," Oleson said.
Retail customers in the hard-hit areas farther south, where citrus is in short supply, will pay for those shortages, however.
Those who will really benefit are those who provide citrus for the processing plants.
"The fruit on the tree is going to be worth more," Oleson said. "Anything that's going to be sold to the packing house is going to be worth more - the supply is less."
Like Hernando, Pasco is no longer the player it once was in citrus. Just 25 years ago, groves covered more than 30,000 acres of the county, from Dade City to New Port Richey, scenting the spring air with blossoms. This year, citrus covers 10,577 acres, a drop from last year's 11,147 acres.
Hard freezes in the 1980s killed a huge percentage of the groves. And what Jack Frost didn't finish off, Joe Developer is doing his best to eradicate.
Within a couple of years, groves could vanish entirely in Land O'Lakes, the central Pasco community where the fruit had been an economic mainstay since World War II. Many new developments there occupy former groves.
Like Hernando, Pasco is no longer the player it once was in citrus. Just 25 years ago, groves covered more than 30,000 acres of the county, from Dade City to New Port Richey, scenting the spring air with blossoms. This year, citrus covers 10,577 acres, a drop from last year's 11,147 acres.
Encouraging the divestment in citrus is the scourge of tristeza, a virus steadily wiping out groves, attacking root stock originally chosen for its cold hardiness after the last disastrous freezes.
"You've got orange groves worth $40,000 an acre. What would you do?" Pasco Property Appraiser Mike Wells said. "You'd really have to think about selling."
Even in backwaters such as the east Pasco community of St. Joseph - still miles from the Tampa suburbs - land prices have doubled in the past couple of years, from about $10,000 to $20,000 per acre.
Medium-sized growers such as the Schraders and large growers like Evans Properties Inc. are tempted by the millions waved in their faces by developers. Once tristeza kills off groves, they're not likely to be replanted, growers say.
"Pasco's future in oranges is very limited," said Ron Edwards, president of Evans Properties, owners of about 1,800 acres of mostly juice trees near Dade City.
But even Schrader is cheered by the climbing prices this year, which he described as "hitting a home run." High-priced navels - and the improving market for juice oranges - could allow his family to postpone the inevitable visit by the bulldozer.
The state's $9-billion citrus industry will generate an estimated 176-million boxes of fruit this year, 27 percent below the near-record 242-million boxes last year.
The Porter family, owners of Wiregrass Ranch, grows about 25,000 boxes of navels. The Wesley Chapel ranch stands in the bull's-eye of development. Thousands of homes and dozens of stores are planned, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
So this year's lucrative navel orange crop is an endangered species. Growers will enjoy the good times while they last.
"I'm paying three times for navel what I normally pay," said Jim Guedry of Citrus Country Groves, a packer in Wesley Chapel that works with Wiregrass.
"Compared to South Florida, we're sitting in the bird's seat over here. We've got fruit."
-- Staff writer Andrew Skerritt contributed to this report.
