February 2022 - 1

Labor shortage at
center of delays,
stagnation, freight
carriers say
Organic apples in high
tunnels offer challenges
7
16
30
Iowa tackles highdensity
orchard frost
protection
February 2022 | Volume 61 |
Issue 2
FLORIDA FUTURES
McLean family perseveres through growing challenges
" Uncle " Matt McLean of Uncle Matt's Organic, with his nieces, nephews and own children. Photos: McLean Photography/Susan McLean
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Greening disease in citrus, imports
of foreign fruit and ballooning real
estate prices are leading many Central
Florida growers to sell acreage, scale
back, or try something different.
Challenges mount for Florida fruit
growers. And yet, multiple generations
of the McLean family remain strongly
involved in farm operations there.
Patriarch Benny McLean runs an
organic peaches U-pick operation. His
sons are busy - Matt McLean launched
and runs an organic juice company,
while Ben leads the charge on research
fighting citrus greening. And his
grandchildren even get involved in the
farm market and earning dollars in a
side operation from agritourists on a
quest for the best photos.
The fruit market
On the outskirts of Clermont,
Florida, Benny McLean at age 79
works outdoors, telling folks at the
farm market about the glories of
organic agriculture.
The farm family gives many tours to
clubs and schools - on one occasion,
a large group of staff from Disney.
Respected as an organic grower,
Benny speaks publicly several times
a year. Every spring, for about a
month, he operates a U-pick peaches
operation that supplements the farm's
mainstay crop of citrus.
With 12 grandchildren in the area
and a busy schedule, " I'm living
the dream, " Benny said. " We're still
chasing rainbows up here in the citrus
business. "
At the farm market, two of his
grandchildren have worked out a side
hustle offering up their pet birds for
Instagram photos.
" They have a sign that says,
'You can hold my chicken for a
dollar,' McLean said. " They're big
entrepreneurs. I think the last time we
did it, they ended up with about $40. "
The U-pick farm market runs about
30 days, from early April to early May,
said son Ben McLean. His father " just
loves to interact with people. He likes
to host the kids and neighbors there.
He gets a lot of repeat business.
" Any way that he can help young
people be inspired to eat healthy, eat
local, eat organic and have people
come out and interact with nature -
he loves that. "
In organic circles, Benny is
respected as a leader - in 2015, the
Organic Trade Association named
him its " Grower of the Year, " noting
that, " He is responsible for converting
close to 1,500 acres of citrus in
Florida to organic, and assisted over
25 small family growers to convert to
organic production. "
The family's push to go organic was
prompted in a large part by Benny's
son, Matt, deciding to launch an
orange juice business, Uncle Matt's
See MCLEAN, page 5

February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2022