Meet the latest round of Citrus Hall of Fame inductees who made significant contributions to the Florida citrus industry.
Every year the Citrus Hall of Fame inducts a handful of individuals to the Hall of Fame as a way to “pay tribute to those who have made outstanding contributions to the Florida citrus industry,” according to the Citrus Hall of Fame website. Meet the most recent Citrus Hall of Fame inductees below.
Citrus Hall of Fame Inductees
The following Citrus Hall of Fame inductees and their information was taken from a Citrus Industry article:
A. Tillis Edwards Jr. “Edwards was a lifelong citrus man. He started at age 18 in 1937 going door-to-door buying backyard citrus for his father’s citrus business, Edwards-Pritchett-Tillis, Inc. Edwards expanded that business into a conglomerate that did harvesting, handling, packing, processing and growing. He was president of Edwards Packing Co.; vice-president of Florida Sip, Inc., a citrus processing plant in Plant City; and handled more than 1,000 acres of groves as vice president of Edwards Groves, Inc.”
George F. Hamner Jr. “Hamner has been a leader for Florida’s fresh citrus industry for 43 years, working closely with state and federal agencies to help bridge governmental, regulatory, grower and shipper communities. He successfully led his family’s fresh fruit packing business, Indian River Exchange Packers, Inc., while also volunteering his time in numerous industry organizations.”
Edward A. Taylor “Taylor was the first Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) executive director who had professional marketing expertise. He implemented programs that were based on solid market research, resulting in moving a citrus crop that ranged from 108 million boxes when he started in 1963 to 235 million boxes in 1978.”
Tickets to the Inductee Luncheon will be available in January.
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.