There are still a few family owned groves left in Florida. I'm glad to hear they are still around. I grew up in Brevard county and ate a lot of their fruit when I was a kid. Haven't been past the place in decades though. Probably wouldn't recognize the place anymore.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1371052.html

Central Florida citrus grove gears up for the holidays

BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

ROCKLEDGE -- It's the day after Thanksgiving, and a steady flow of customers is sampling the freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice at Harvey's Groves off U.S. 1.

They're filling brown paper bags with fruit, grabbing bags of perfectly formed oranges, tangelos and grapefruit, and sampling other citrus offerings -- like Harvey's vitamin E hand cream.

But what President Jim Harvey really likes to see is the people who are sitting down at the tables, filling out orders for gift boxes.

The 22 days from Thanksgiving to the week before Christmas are what Harvey calls ``do or die'' time for his family-run business, started in 1925 by his aunt and uncle. More than 60 percent of the company's sales -- about $4 million last year -- happen between now and Dec. 18, the last date the company can guarantee that its gift boxes of Indian River oranges and grapefruit will arrive before Christmas Day.

In the run up to the holiday, the company's 100 workers -- quadruple the size it is in the offseason -- will ship as many as 3,000 packages a day.

Even though times have changed, Harvey likes to emphasize that the company, which grows 90 percent of the fruit it ships, still does things the way his parents did.

This is a nerve-wracking time for Harvey, and retailers like him, with people waiting longer and longer to commit to buying holiday gifts.

Last year, the company's business was down about 4 to 5 percent compared to 2007. Harvey expects this year will be better.

It should be, said Ron Tanner, a spokesman for the National Association of Specialty Food Trade, an industry group that represents 2,900 specialty food manufacturers, importers and retailers like the Harveys.

``When it gets to be tough economic times, people want to give things that other people are going to be able to use,'' said Tanner, who said surveys from their members show that sales continue to be good, although customers are tending to buy less.

Information from their retailers shows that gift baskets, which used to have an average price point of $40 fell in price last year to closer to $20. Tanner expects the price to rise to about $25 this year.

Harvey said they've been fortunate that very few of their regular customers have stopped ordering.

``We have companies that used to buy a bushel and now they're buying a quarter bushel or half bushel to watch their costs. We don't have too many that are dropping us altogether,'' he said.

``People like our product and we're lucky that they're still buying from us.''

The Harveys deal in a perishable, heavy product -- fruit packages can range from 18 to 55 pounds. Prices for fruit start at about $24. To keep shipping costs down, they use a combination of FedEx and local post offices.

Jim's brother, Larry, runs the farming side of the business. Their 300 acres of groves on Merritt Island are on the same land the family has had for more than eight decades. Intending to go to Miami, his aunt and uncle were waylaid by car trouble in Brevard County in the early 1920s.

The groves, nestled between the Indian and Banana rivers, are usually protected from freezes by the warmth of the rivers.

In the winter, ``you can actually see the steam coming off the rivers that keeps the groves warm,'' Harvey said.

The family grows about eight to 10 varieties of citrus -- its navel oranges and Honeybell tangelos are its most popular, but the family also grows its own Golden Marsh white grapefruit hybrid, as well as Isle of Merritt ruby red grapefruit.

In its three retail locations, the Harveys sell gallons of freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice, made from different blends of their products. Every customer that walks in is offered a glass to taste.

``Mmmm . . . it tastes just like breakfast -- cool, nice and chilled,'' said North Miami Beach resident Michelle Williamson, who makes Harvey's an annual stop each year after she visits family nearby for Thanksgiving.

Clutching a large brown paper bag full of produce -- fruit the packers deem as seconds are sold for $9.95 a bag, as much as you can cram in -- Williamson said there's nothing like this in South Florida.

``There's no better way to get it than from the orchard,'' she said.

Most of the family's business comes from orders now taken online and over the phone -- unlike years ago, fewer and fewer people are actually walking into a location to order.

While Harvey likes to emphasize the customer service you get in the store or over the phone, he's happy to have the business anyway it comes in: ``We'll accommodate them however they want.''