February 2022 - 6

MCLEAN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
17 acres of tangelos and
tangerines - some of which are
in transition to organic, some
organic Sugar Belles and
10 acres of peaches.
" We've got some land
around that we could
bring back into organic
production, " Ben McLean
said. Land with bulldozed
orchards can lie fallow but
easily be re-submitted for
organic certification as long
as it hasn't been sprayed with
synthetic inputs. " So, we're
really trying to use these
small research plots, of the
Sugar Belles (variety), for
example, to really evaluate
and justify. We could probably
find another 100 acres of land
sitting around fallow that used
to be in organic production
that we could plant right back
into it. "
If not citrus, they could
plant it out into peaches,
or even cucurbits and
other vegetables. " Citrus
production is our love, and
organic citrus production has
become an even greater love, "
Ben said. FGN
Farms' future
Farm business decisions about acreage are
entwined with the availability of harvest labor
and real estate land values, market prices
and growing conditions. Perhaps the most
pressing issue for Florida citrus growers is
citrus greening disease.
Ben McLean said citrus greening disease is
a major reason that Florida citrus acreage and
production has rapidly decreased in the last
15 years. Total Florida citrus acreage dropped
about 140,000 acres in roughly a decade -
from 568,814 acres in 2009 to 430,601 acres
in 2019, according to one USDA report.
Production of oranges has dropped from 140
million boxes in the 2010-2011 season, to a
forecasted 47 million boxes for the 2021-2022
season, according to USDA reports.
" People have just decided, with the risk of
citrus greening, not to plant back, " he said.
And yet, there are some bright spots on
that issue.
For a long time, Ben McLean had " a
front-row seat " to see the latest research
for fighting citrus greening disease. From
2010-2018, he served as a board member of
the Citrus Research Development Foundation
of the University of Florida, a direct service
organization funded by a tax that growers pay
per box. For several of those years, he served
as the president of the commercialization and
product delivery committee.
" The best thing that I've seen has been
these tolerant rootstocks, this new and
improved genetics from our breeding team
and right along those lines, there are some
new scion varieties that have been released,
as well. The scion is the actual variety that's
grafted onto the rootstock which produces the
marketable commercial fruit that we sell and
consume.
" Most of them are hybrids of old-line
rootstocks that we've used before like Sour
Orange and Cleopatra Mandarin, where the
breeders have made crosses to these and
come up with new varieties that are again
more tolerant, even perhaps resistant of the
greening disease.
" They've also used Flying Dragon, " Ben
McLean said. " They're not completely
100% resistant, but they show a good
level of tolerance. It's come through the
traditional breeding program so they are not
genetically engineered or genetically modified
organisms. As an organic grower I can use
those materials and plant them out in my
organic farms and be approved for organic
production in the future, using those. "
Another positive that Ben has seen is with
enhanced nutritional programs - particularly
managing levels of manganese, zinc and
boron.
" When you use these improved genetics
with enhanced nutrition ... there's optimism
there that the combination of those two
particularly can get us a productivity that's
profitable, that we can grow through and
live with this disease, even though it may
be endemic. And as an organic grower you
are allowed to use micronutrients in your
production, just as long as you document
deficiencies - and, of course, one of the
things, unfortunately, that you see in
the citrus greening diseases, even with
(new tolerant varieties), it induces a lot of
micronutrient deficiency that's easy to detect
and document. "
Conventional growers have a few additional
options for fighting the disease.
" They would have more tools, but I wouldn't
say that any of those tools have been shown
to be a viable, effective greening solution or
cure, " McLean said. " For example, they have
tools of being able to use some of antibiotics,
like the streptomycin and the oxytetracycline,
that have been approved for use. But there
haven't been widespread adoption of those
technologies, and as far as the grower
community is concerned, the jury is still out
as to whether they work well enough. There's
no tools that my father and I look at and say,
'Oh, wow, I wish that I could use " Brand X, "
that way we could cure greening.' "
His own farm has had some good, early
results in fighting citrus greening organically.
" We have an organic citrus grove that's
just almost five years old now and, you know
it's on the 812 rootstock and it's budded with
the scion Sugar Belle, and Sugar Belle was
developed by Drs. Fred Gmitter and Jude
Grosser of the University of Florida, " Ben
McLean said. " It again shows a pretty good
tolerance to the citrus greening it does
test positive for it, it does get the disease,
yet it's able to grow through it, you know in
layman's terms. We're seeing some pretty
good early growth of that variety that's got
us optimistic.
" We're still in it, and we're not giving up, "
Ben McLean said.
- Stephen Kloosterman
8405 Fruit Ridge Ave. * Sparta, MI 49345
800.452.6748 * sales@peachridge.com
www.peachridge.com
6 | FruitGrowersNews.com
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February 2022

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