5-minute read

Built on an orange grove in the 1920s, Florida Southern College (FSC) is working to reestablish two historic campus citrus groves. The groves will serve as an active testing ground for strategies to combat the ongoing citrus greening epidemic and give students in the redesigned Horticulture, Land, and Resource Management Program hands-on access to cutting-edge technology.

In Fall 2024, FSC launched the Horticulture, Land, and Resource Management Program under the direction of the business school with six students in the first cohort. The college anticipates 20 to 25 students enrolled in the program in the next three to five years. 

“Agriculture is one of the world’s largest businesses,” said Michael Weber, dean of the Barney Barnett School of Business & Free Enterprise at FSC. “Today’s leaders need to understand horticultural science, but they also need expertise in finance, supply chains, real estate, environmental law, analytics, technology, and entrepreneurship,”

“We’re preparing graduates to manage agricultural enterprises, not just grow crops,” he said.

Innovative agriculture

| Courtesy of Florida Southern College

The reestablished groves and the Horticulture, Land, and Resource Management Program at FSC embrace the latest innovations in the citrus industry in order to prepare the next generation of professionals to transition seamlessly into vital roles within the regional economy. 

 “Agriculture is becoming one of the most innovative industries in the economy. Students are beginning to explore opportunities involving precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, remote sensing, sustainability technologies, automation, environmental monitoring, and agricultural data analytics,” said Weber.

“Those innovations create opportunities not only to improve production but also to launch new companies, commercialize technologies, and develop consulting services that support growers across Florida.”

A dramatic decline

According to the USDA’s Preliminary Commercial Citrus Inventory, Florida’s citrus acreage decreased by 24% from 2024 to 2025, with the majority of losses due to the Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, commonly known as citrus greening, which began devastating Florida’s citrus industry in 2005.

While Polk County continues to lead the state in acres planted, the county’s acreage declined from 62,005 in 2022 to 48,473 acres in 2024 — a loss of 22%. 

“During the 2004-2005 harvest season Florida produced about 240 million boxes of round oranges that went to juice, and this year we’re looking at about 12 million, so if you do the math, that’s more than 90%,” said Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center. “It’s a dramatic decline.”

However, the report noted that, statewide, “New plantings, reported at 7,512 acres, are up from the previous season’s 4,751 acres.” 

“We’ve come a long way, and people are seeing hope now that we’ve been able to really make some major progress and understand this disease and how to live with it, how to cure it, and I wouldn’t say we’re there yet, but I think, that’s coming, so we’re excited. There’s still work to be done,” Rogers said.

A toolkit of solutions

The revitalization of FSC’s groves draws on more than 20 years of research by the University of Florida dedicated to defeating citrus greening. 

The research, combined with state backing and industry collaboration, delivered a toolkit of solutions, allowing growers to confidently begin replanting. 

“The idea is with the new tools, the new citrus varieties we have available now, we can try to help incentivize people to start replanting citrus and not turning it into houses because once that land goes to the houses, it never comes back to agriculture … and agriculture is a lot more beneficial just beyond providing jobs. It really helps protect the environment and other things as well,” Rogers said.

The toolkit includes biological and genetic solutions, protected trees, healthier soils, targeted treatments, financial/policy support, and AI-driven knowledge tools that work together to keep citrus groves viable, according to Rogers.

Replanting the groves

Phillip Rucks, an FSC graduate and founder of Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery in Frostproof, donated 45 trees to replenish the groves. 

Rucks is also involved in the Citrus Research and Field Trial Foundation Inc. (CRAFT), helping other Florida growers access and implement these new technologies.

Mike Hurst of Citrus Service Inc. supplied specialized tree tents designed to protect the developing grove from the Asian citrus psyllid, the insect that spreads HLB. The tents shelter the young trees from summer heat stress, sunburn, and dehydration in addition to excluding the pest.

Tents designed to reduce enviromental pressures and enhance resistance to citrus greening, cover the trees. | Sarah Semon, LkldNow

“This project is a wonderful example of what happens when industry and higher education share a common vision. Phillip Rucks and Mike Hurst recognized that investing in students is one of the best ways to invest in the future of agriculture,” according to Weber.

An agricultural community

FSC is also home to the state’s official citrus archive, founded by the late Professor Thomas B. Mack, where students and visitors can view vintage fruit labels, research industry papers, or browse business records and photographs from the 1920s to the present. 

“Polk County has a remarkable agricultural community, and these partnerships help students see that they don’t have to leave the region to build meaningful and rewarding careers,” said Weber. “Keeping talented graduates here strengthens both our local economy and our agricultural industries.”

For students who may need additional funding, the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame provides a fellowship to support five work-study students who perform a variety of tasks in the archive and develop a final project for their resume. 

Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.

LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.

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Sarah is a Mulberry-based freelance writer and reporter for LkldNow, where she covers education news and community initiatives across Polk County. A resident of the area for 25 years, her work is informed by a diverse background that includes a decade in higher education, research, and academic publishing, alongside her current roles as a K-2 ESE educator and an advanced yoga teacher.

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