We'll Always Have Citrus, But It Won't Be The Same

As Cargill shuts down its juice plants in Avon Park and Frostproof, it's a reminder that Highlands County is changing.

Fewer and fewer citrus farms exist. Farms that are more valuable as housing developments or shopping malls than they can possibly produce in orange juice.

Slowly, the citrus groves along U.S. 27 are disappearing. So are the groves on U.S. 98, between U.S. 27 and Spring Lake. They will remain along our country roads.

Cargill Juice North America is laying off an additional 20 to 25 workers at Avon Park and Frostproof by Jan. 31. The company is getting out of the citrus processing business in Florida. Imagine saying that in the days of Ben Hill Griffin Jr., when oranges were king.

What happened? About everything that could: freezes in the 1980s, canker, and now greening. Then agricultural land got valuable.

As citrus growers got smarter, they produced bumper crops. The high point came in 1997-98, when 304,000 boxes of oranges, grapefruit and other citrus were produced in the Sunshine State. The low point was 2005-06, with about 155 million boxes.

Who can blame Cargill for shutting down, when it sees a 50 percent decline in less than 10 years, and nothing on the horizon except fewer oranges and grapefruits?

"Ultimately, the combination of those events made it impossible to deliver sustainable and acceptable returns," said Tom Abrahamson, the president of Cargill Juice.

People want to blame the Lake Placid growers, who want to build 4,600 homes on 1,500 acres on both sides of U.S. 27. If Hometown Democracy were in place today, voters would decide whether the Smoaks, Mason Groves, Marvin Khan and others can replace trees with homes.

But maybe the better course is enunciated by Councilman Bill Brantley. "We all know change is inevitable. The growth is coming, and we're getting the reins on it."

Some people moved to Florida five, 10, 20 years ago, and now they want to shut the door on future growth. That's not right. People who come here in the future have the same right to a home as the people who came in the past.