Our Florida fruit growers defy two hurricanes and still kick off the citrus season.

Seven years ago, on a mission to get our hands on the most sustainable fresh fruit for Lufavores during our hectic winters, we found ourselves in the citrus groves of central Florida. Like every year, we’ve been checking in with our Southern partners, but unlike every year, this one has been particularly challenging. 

Between a three-day frost at the end of January, a drought in the summer, and two hurricanes nearly back-to-back, our partners have been severely impacted. Speaking to them about their experience is a heartening reminder of how resilient and passionate these individuals are, and how they’ll do anything to keep their groves running. Below is a series of photos we took from our visit down south last February - but as you can imagine, the groves are looking quite different these days.

Vitality Citrus - Sebring, FL

Since the 80s, Alastair and his family from Vitality Citrus have been growing fruit without synthetic pesticides on 3,000 acres of land. It was just last year that we began our partnership, receiving 20,000 pounds of citrus every week. Although he’s already started sending us Hamlin oranges, grapefruits, and pomelos, this year is not without its challenges.

The pressures of climate change bringing a rough start to the season.

Due to the continued unexpected fluctuations of weather in Florida, Alastair’s trees blossom sporadically, causing the fruit to grow to different sizes. These fruits are still just as juicy, but their size inconsistencies make it hard to know when they’re ripe and ready for harvest. On top of the cold weather, there was little to no rain this summer which was hard on his trees that need lots of moisture to bloom. Thankfully, his micro jet irrigation system allowed them to drink without waste from overwatering. 

First came Ian, then Nicole, and now comes the resilience of Alastair and his team.

In September, Hurricane Ian showed up full force. Alastair and his team prepared as best they could by lowering the ditches around his groves in order to drain rain water and harvesting all his pomelos (sending us as many as we could take).  

Despite their best efforts, the hurricane caused mass destruction. His remaining fruit is now scattered across his expansive grove, and what used to take just a few hours of work for his team to harvest, now takes up to a few days. Luckily, Hurricane Nicole had a much smaller impact, and mainly affected the weaker fruit that were already shocked by Ian. 

The tribulations of this year has made it nearly impossible to plan ahead, and he can only tackle his work one day at a time. Despite the turbulence and hardship of this season, Alastair told us that what keeps him moving forward is his team’s drive and dedication, along with Lufavore appreciation (he reads every. single. comment). As for the rest of this season, we’re still receiving truckloads of his citrus and although everything is still up in the air, we're all hoping for the best.

Camellia Groves - Winter Haven, FL

Joe and Martha Burke (and their trusty sidekick Doug, their land’s caretaker) are the forces behind the lemon production at Camellia Groves. Similar to Alastair, they also grow their fruits without synthetic pesticides on their 80-year-old family business. Since lemons are more subtropical than other citrus, their trees never go dormant and are able to produce fruit year round. We gave them a call to check up and see how they’ve been handling the tricky season. 

Preparing for Hurricane Ian by sending us lemons by the truckload.

In anticipation for the first hurricane, their team had to act fast - harvesting as much fruit as possible, filling their cold storage to the brim, and sending us the rest. This meant most of their lemons were saved, but they still had to deal with debris cleanup, a power outage, and loss of their water supply. 

The trees themselves went through some shock and damage but luckily, they’re not anticipating any long-term effects on the grove. It’s also to their relief that Hurricane Nicole didn’t hit them hard - instead bringing much needed rain after a dry summer.

Finding ways to fight greening with new research and technology.

The hurricanes made greening (an insect disease affecting all citrus in Florida) even worse this year, since its main effect is clogging the roots resulting in weaker trees. Although there’s no cure, Martha says that the best you can do is remain vigilant and monitor your trees as much as you can - giving them what they’re asking for (be it, fertilizer, water, etc). While scientists haven’t found a permanent solution, they did create a mixture of micro elements that help the tree recover from side effects which she now adds to her trees. Overall, Martha’s very grateful that the hurricanes will likely not cause any fruit shortages for them this season. 

All in all, in the face of hurricanes, dubious weather, and ongoing greening, our Floridian partners are always adapting and finding ways to continue growing their citrus. And the Lufavore community, who truly understands what they’re trying to do, make it all worthwhile.