Benny McLean, a lifelong Florida citrus expert, talks with John Kempf about the conventional agronomic practices that have led to the steep decline of the industry and how ecological approaches that emphasize soil and plant health are the solution
Kempf. Benny, I remember a story that you shared with me a number of years ago about the first applications of Roundup on the citrus crops you were helping to manage at the time. Today, the citrus industry in Florida is less than 10 percent of what it was just 10 or 15 years ago. I’d love to get your perspective on how we got here and where the citrus industry is going.
McLean. I grew up in the citrus industry. I’m the oldest of five boys, and four of us are in the citrus business. My dad was an expert in the citrus business; he graduated from the University of Florida in 1939 with a degree in ag, and he actually set up the citrus class at Florida Southern College in Lakeland and taught there for a couple of years in the early fifties. He was well respected in the citrus industry, and I had the opportunity to grow up riding with my dad in the citrus groves, and every day there was something he would point out about the trees, the grove, irrigation, fertilizer, etc.
When glyphosate was first introduced, I had a caretaking company here in Clermont. We did a lot of contract herbicide. Herbicide was not popular at that time. Here in Lake County there were about 300,000 acres of bearing citrus. My dad called me up one morning and said, “Hey, didn’t y’all just put out some Roundup in a couple blocks up there in the Mineola Hill? How long have they been out?” I said, “Oh, about 30 days.” And he said, “Let’s ride up there and take a look at ’em.”
So we go up there, and he’s riding with me, and we go into the first block, and it was about a 20-year-old grapefruit grove, 30 by 30 — which was normal back then, 48 trees to an acre — and we’re easing along down one of the middles, and he says to me, “Tell me what you see.” And I said, “Dad, man — look — all the weeds are dead! This is awesome! It killed the lantana and killed the Guinea grass.” He said, “That’s what you see?” I said, “Yeah, Dad. What do you see?” He said, “What about those six, seven, eight grapefruit laying on the ground?” This was like in September, so the grapefruit had decent size, they weren’t ready to harvest yet.
And I said, “Oh, Dad, that’s nothing. We’ve got a big boom on the tractor that goes under the tree and applies the herbicide. More than likely the boom is what’s knocking the fruit off because it’s hanging down low on the limbs.” And my dad said, “You really think so? Don’t you have another block right up here that’s got young grapefruit that you treated?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He said, “Let’s ride up there and look at that.”
So we eased on down the road and went in there. These were about seven or eight-year-old trees. Dad said, “What do you see here?” I said, “Man, Dad, look at the weed control!” Younger trees get a lot more sun on the ground, and weeds are really rampant. He said, “You see any grapefruit on the ground?” I said, “Yeah, matter of fact, I do.” Well, there were two or three grapefruit per tree laying on the ground.
He said, “Huh. There’s no fruit hanging down for the boom to hit — this is a young tree. So how do you explain that?” I said, “Dad, I don’t know.” He said, “I’m going to tell you. We have been lied to about glyphosate. This chemical is absorbed through the trunk, it’s absorbed through the leaves, it’s absorbed through the roots. You watch — it’s going to be a major disaster in this whole citrus industry.” Now this was 1973, John.
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