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Business trends for 2006

Agriculture

Area crops thrive as citrus suffers.

By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published January 8, 2006

Hurricane Wilma's rampage through the state in late October didn't just knock the wind out of citrus growers' hopes for a profitable harvest.

It left behind the threat that high winds spread deadly citrus canker over as much as 28 percent of the state's groves. Combined with the 80,000 acres lost to canker spread by hurricanes in 2004, that means about one-third of Florida's citrus groves could be out of production this year if canker is as widespread as feared.

"It takes 10 years before those groves start making money again," said Casey Pace, spokeswoman for Florida Citrus Mutual in Lakeland. "It's never going to be the same."

Fortunately, farmers in the Tampa Bay area are not as reliant on citrus. In Hillsborough County, third in farm receipts after Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, the major agricultural products are strawberries, ornamental plants and vegetables. Barring severe freezes or other natural disasters, the county's crops should continue to increase in value in 2006, said Stephen Gran, manager of agriculture industry development for Hillsborough County.

"Our issues have to do with competition for natural resources: land and water," he said. "But as long as agriculture stays relatively profitable, people will stay in. That's why high-intensity crops like strawberries, ornamental plants and tropical fish stay pretty constant, while lower-intensity ones, like citrus, have been target for other types of development."

[Last modified January 8, 2006, 11:22:05]