When I think of Florida crops...

Citrus is what comes to mind first when I think of Florida's crops, but there are other crops grown in Florida, and Hendry County as well.  On a recent ride around some farms, I saw a tomato farm that was huge!  Yes, the approx. 4,000 acres of tomatoes grown withers to the approx. 85,000 acres of oranges and 35,000 acres of sugarcane, but for a non-citrus crop it's pretty substanstanial.  Below are several pictures of the tomato farm I saw, and saw, and saw.  I was told these rows went on for two miles. That's ALOT of ketchup!! To see the precision of how the plastic was laid (by a machine) to protect the young plants to the "finished product" stages was quite educational.

We did ride through some orange groves and that's a pretty common site. But I saw some new trees in the ground and was curious why there was tin foil around the trunks.  I was told it was to keep the trees from sprouting new growth below a certain point on the trunk. Hmmm, this old man can still learn a thing or two.

In 2008, Florida ranked first in the United States in the value of production of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, sugarcane for sugar and seed, squash, watermelons, sweet corn, fresh-market snap beans, fresh-market tomatoes, and fresh-market cucumbers.

Florida ranked second in the United States in the value of production of strawberries, bell peppers, and cucumbers for pickles.

Florida ranked fourth in the value of production of honey. Bet you've learned something, too.