It is funny how small things can make an impression on you in the moment and then get tucked away in the folds of your mind for remembering later. That happened to me as we were seeking a name for our campaign, “We Believe in Florida Citrus.”
It goes back to 2016. I was attending the annual Citrus Hall of Fame induction luncheon at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Shannon Shepp took to the lectern to address the large gathering for the first time in her new role as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Citrus.
I can’t recall all the particulars, but I remember a few times during her talk, she instructed us in the audience to repeat — “I believe in Florida citrus.” It made an impression on me and I am sure others in the crowd. In that gymnasium where lunch was served sat a large portion of the state’s citrus industry. Growers, researchers, educators, association representatives, lawmakers, regulators, and many of the commercial suppliers of products and services needed to make citrus grow.
It was powerful to hear a large collective of people who depend on this special fruit repeat in unison that they believe in it and its future. I remember at the time having the impression that people were repeating with conviction — it was not a schoolroom exercise.
Fast forward to 2020. HLB had continued its devastating march through groves, a major hurricane, Irma, had swept through, and a significant market downturn had occurred since we repeated, “I believe in Florida citrus” in Lakeland four years prior. And, oh yeah, we were experiencing a global pandemic.
No doubt it is enough to shake anyone’s confidence. As we were making plans for 2021 here at Florida Grower® magazine, we asked ourselves what we can do to boost the confidence of the state’s citrus sector — a sector that we depend on like so many others who gathered in that gymnasium in 2016.
We decided to shine a light on the many fronts that are actively seeking solutions to the HLB problem and other challenges. Growers innovating in the groves, researchers seeking solutions in the lab and field, associations representing industry interests, and the commercial sector providing solutions are all in the game working toward a positive future. But what would we call this effort? That’s when Shannon’s instruction emerged from the folds of my memory. I remembered all those folks in the room repeating, “I believe in Florida citrus.” We all agreed with that sentiment. Thus, “We Believe in Florida Citrus” was born as an initiative to boost the morale of the people who grow and support the state’s signature crop and encourage all of us to keep going.
It is exciting how well this campaign has been received so far, and there’s more to come. “We Believe in Florida Citrus” is about more than a simple piece of fruit — the world’s finest, by the way. It is about a community of people who for generations have grown that fruit for a grateful public. After all we’ve been through, that community is more important now than ever.
The conviction of the crowd gathered in a gymnasium in 2016 was firm that there is a future for Florida citrus. That conviction is as strong as ever. We believe in Florida citrus!