Glimpses of our ag backbone

Gary Pixley is used to seeing plants.

Six months out of the year he works in a nursery in Casper, Wyo., but when he walked into Highlands Greenhouses in Venus Thursday, he stood in amazement.

"It's unreal," said Pixley as his eyes skimmed across a tent full of plants.

"This is mind boggling," added Jerry Entel, a Lake Placid resident.

The rows of bright green leaves on the ixoras, anthuriums, and ferns looked like an ocean of green. For these garden enthusiasts, it was like heaven.

"I find it amazing that in our little town this exists," Suzie Entel, Jerry Entel's wife, said.

Pixley and the Entels were passengers on an agricultural tour that bused about 100 people through the back country of Highlands County.

It was not just a crash course on the county's ag industry; passengers also learned where products found in their local grocery stores are grown.

"Think about your lunch," said Darlene Phypers, caladium grower and owner of Happiness Farms in Lake Placid.

"Beef, lettuce, tomatoes...Where do you think that comes from?" she asked the group.

More than likely, the produce, the dairy and the plants purchased at local stores are supplied by local growers.

Those "Got Milk" trucks driving through the county are probably picking up milk from our dairy farmers.

The strawberries and blueberries harvested during the winter are sold at the local grocery stores. Even the turf used for roadway projects and golf courses are locally produced.

"To see these nationwide businesses right in our backyard is remarkable," said Janene Smith, a retired Lake Placid resident, who participated in the daylong journey.

For others like Lake Placid resident Joyce Miles, it was not anything new but still educational.

"I knew about most of it but it's fun to see," Miles said.

The tour made its way through Blue Head Ranch, Happiness Farms' caladium fields, Tillman's Gator Farm and Highlands Greenhouses in Venus.

After learning about produce, cattle and dairy, the group headed to Tillman's.

As gator handler Pedro Resendiz showed off a mid-sized gator, Peggy Pixley posed for quick shot. Others looked in awe as the handler secured his grip around the gator's jaw.

In the farm's processing center, the group saw how Tillman employee, Giovanni Sanchez, carefully skinned a gator.

"No part of the gator is lost," said Robin Tillman, managerial staff of the farm.

The skin is sold off and made into luxury purses, belts and shoes. Before gourmet-tasting gator meat entrees hit restaurants, the meat is cut into tenderloins, ribs and nuggets and sold to food distributers throughout the state.

Along the way, tour guide Susie Bishop, business development director for Atlanticblue, also talked about the dairy farm industry and the challenges within agriculture.

"When you're a farmer you're a gambler. We don't need to go to Vegas, we do our gambling right here," said Bishop, whose husband runs Bishop Brothers Dairy in Lorida.

Acres of abandoned citrus groves served as a reminder of the threat grove owners endured with citrus canker disease. It has since moved on to greening.

West along State Road 66, hundreds of acres of former cattle ranches and dairy farms had been subdivided into five acre ranchettes-another sign of the times.

By the tri-county line, where Highlands, DeSoto and Hardee counties meet, is Blue Head Ranch. With over 60,000 acres, it's one of the largest ranches in the county. The tour bus had to carefully drive down a dirt road through the strawberry fields that had been watered since 9 the night before, to prevent frosting.

On the other side of the road, the leaves on the blueberry trees had fallen from the week's unusually cold weather.

The trip was an eye opener for attendees who got a glimpse into the world of a working farmer.

They now know that in agriculture sometimes more work goes into a harvest than what comes out. And when Mother Nature works against a production, growers have to start from scratch.

Like Bishop said agriculture is changing.

"To survive we farmers have to be diversified," she said.

Highlands County Ag-facts

An acre of citrus grove produces 300 to 400 boxes on average.

About 95 percent of citrus fruit from Highlands County and the state is processed into juice.

Highlands County is the second largest citrus producing county.

66.4 percent of Highlands County acreage if utilized for agricultural production.

48 percent of Highlands County acreage is used for cattle grazing.

Source: Ray Royce, executive director of Heartland Agricultural Coalition, and Florida Agricultural Statistics Service, www.nass.usda.gov/fl/.

For more information

The Agricultural Tour of Highlands County planning members will be scheduling more trips throughout the year.

The next date would be in late February. For further information contact Highlands County Extension Office at (863) 402-6540.