Multi-generational Florida citrus growers have roots in Sunshine State's 'flagship industry'

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - For third-generation citrus grower Quentin Roe, "Old Florida" is never far away. 

"I live in a grove; I have my whole life. That’s my sanctuary. That’s where I go for my quiet time," said Roe, the president of William G. Roe and Sons Inc. "The nice thing about trees is they don’t talk back.

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He oversees this 97-year-old packing house in Winter Haven. It was a gift from the Sea Board Coastline Railroad in the 1920s. 

Quentin Roe oversees this 97-year-old packing house in Winter Haven.

The company was looking for new freight to move after the logging industry dried up. 

"They started looking at this fledgling citrus industry that was going on and said ‘Aha! We can get all that citrus freight on our railroad lines that are already built, if we build those growers' packing houses,'" Roe explains.

The citrus industry took off like a rocket ship, taking the Florida economy along with it.  

"The money that was generated, the jobs that were generated, the generational experiences that were created - citrus has that place in Florida," Roe said.

"I take a lot of pride in being able to say I get to put that glass of Florida OJ on your table," says Morgan McKenna. She's a 5th generation grower with McKenna Brothers Citrus in Lake Wales.

The citrus industry was in her blood at an early age. 

"In 2nd grade, my picture was me standing next to an orange tree saying, ‘I’m going to be an orange grower,'" she recalls.

Morgan is shown - in the Florida Gators visor - standing next to George W. Bush in 2004 after the busy hurricane season battered their orange groves.

Morgan says carrying on Florida's citrus legacy is important to her. 

"Old Florida? How can you get more ‘Old Florida’ than the flagship industry? Every license plate has an orange with an orange blossom on it," she said. "You can’t get much more old Florida than that."

Morgan says when she rides through a grove, she goes back in time, but she also gets a good look at the hard work she's put in. 

Now, Morgan has hopefully a sixth-generation citrus grower on the way.

Much of that work nowadays is learning how to deal with citrus greening: a disease that's devastated the industry in the last two decades.

But both Morgan and Quentin are optimistic about the future. 

"We just have to find new ways to keep moving forward, using different tools in our toolboxes," Morgan said. "There will always be an industry for Florida oranges."