|
|
LaBelle: Southwest Florida's Citrus Center |
||
|
By Ron Hamel From September through June, millions of boxes of oranges, grapefruit and specialty citrus are trucked to and through LaBelle as southwest Florida has become Florida's fastest growing citrus production area. The "gulf" region, which includes Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties, currently produces about 25% of Florida's total annual citrus crop and contributes over $1 billion to the southwest Florida economy. The freezes that plagued central Florida throughout the 1980's prompted growers to move citrus operations southward. LaBelle and Hendry County have become the center of a bustling industry. Throughout the harvesting season, Highways 80 and 29 are alive with truckloads of bright orange golden yellow "gems" as this citrus moves to be packed as fresh fruit or processed into juice and other citrus by-products. Recent reports by the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service (FASS) show that during the 2001 - 2002 season, the Gulf Area produced more than 22.5 million boxes of early and mid-season oranges; 27.6 million boxes of Valencias; 6 million boxes of grapefruit; nearly 1.1 million boxes of tangerines and 454,000 boxes of other citrus for a total of nearly 57 million boxes of fruit. A box of citrus weights approximately 95 pounds. Hendry County leads the state in total number of citrus trees at 14.4 million and is second in total citrus acreage at 94,139 acres. In all, more than 170,457 acres are currently in citrus production within the Gulf Region. |
|
|
  |
||
