Readytospeak—Sally Updike, the DeLand Area Chamber’s interim executive director, addresses the audience as speakers for the monthly “West Volusia Means Business” luncheon await their turns to take the dais. From left are David Register, executive director of FernTrust Inc.; Richard Williams of Florida Olive Systems; past Chamber President and mistress of ceremonies Missy Chaves; Steve Crump of Vo-LaSalle Farms; and Dennis Mudge of the Volusia County Extension Service.
BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Agriculture plays an important role in Volusia County’s economy, according to several speakers at the September edition of the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce & Orange City Alliance’s “West Volusia Means Business” luncheon at the Volusia County Fairgrounds.
Steve Crump of the family-owned and -operated Vo-LaSalle Farms in DeLeon Springs said the family once was more heavily dependent on citrus as its main crop, but like many growers was slammed by hard freezes in the early to mid-1980s.
What was 10,000 acres of citrus in Volusia County before the freezes of ’83 and ’85 has dwindled to less than 800 acres now, he said.
“There’s not a lot of citrus left in Volusia County,” Crump said. “Citrus used to be a great business; it’s not so great anymore.”
Several years ago, the Crump family expanded into other endeavors, including container-growing of vegetable crops, as well as tours and kids’ activities.
“We have 15 to 20 things at any given time,” Crump said.
David Register is executive director of FernTrust Inc., a 30-year-old cooperative in Seville that allowed several fern growers to combine their efforts to export the decorative greenery overseas.
“We do the harvesting, packaging and marketing for our members,” Register said.
Those members grow an assortment of greenery found in floral arrangements; ”basically we grow everything but the flowers,” he said.
Much of the cut foliage is destined for markets outside of Volusia County. And the cut-foliage industry is an important segment of agriculture’s contribution to Volusia County’s economy, ringing up between $60 million and $70 million of a combined $700 million impact, Register said.
Richard Williams and his wife, Lisa Ford Williams, operate Florida Olive Systems in DeLeon Springs. Four years ago, they planted 11,360 olive trees on their 20-acre test plot. This year, they finally produced enough fruit to be able to make a small amount of olive oil.
Richard Williams said that becoming commercially viable is the ultimate goal, especially with olive-oil consumption on the rise across the country, increasing from 22 million gallons a year in 1995 to more than 80 million gallons this year.
“We’re in the beginning phases of commercial growing,” he told the audience. “We have the potential to be huge.”
Finally, Dennis Mudge, who has been director of the Volusia County Extension Service for just two months, said the hardest part of his job is to educate people about the importance of agriculture.
“Forty percent of Volusia County’s acreage is still in agriculture,” Mudge said. “There are more farms today than ever before in Volusia County.”
However, the number of acres devoted to those farms is lower because the farms are smaller, he explained.
A fact sheet on the Extension Service Web page states that the county’s agricultural products include fruit, vegetables, honey, cattle, hay, sod, fish, timber and plants.
Mudge said the annual Farm Tour the Friday before Thanksgiving is a good way to get an inside look at many Volusia County farms.
-Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com