SMR, Tropicana tackle greener growing

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Through a partnership with Tropicana, Schroeder-Manatee Ranch subsidiary SMR Farms is implementing a farming practice that could revolutionize the agricultural industry by making it better for the environment.

In March, SMR Farms began trying two new fertilizers, neither of which uses natural gas in the manufacturing process, in a portion of its citrus groves. The change eventually may translate into a significant reduction in its carbon footprint — and consequently a reduction in the carbon footprint of other Tropicana growers.

“It fits in with this whole idea of sustainable agriculture,” SMR Farms President Mac Carraway said, noting SMR Farms has been growing citrus for Tropicana for more than 20 years.

Less than two years ago, Tropicana, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, began looking for ways its companies could reduce their carbon footprints, Carraway said.

At Tropicana, it first focused on issues such as hauling and trucking. However, further investigation showed that fertilizer — which typically requires a large quantity of natural gas to produce — actually contributes the largest single source, or percentage, of carbon relative to a carton of orange juice, Tim Carey, sustainability director for Pepsi Americas Beverages said. In fact, 35% of emissions came from agriculture.

Because of the its longstanding relationship with SMR Farms, Tropicana approached SMR Farms about conducting a trial in which the company would try two new fertilizers on its plants to see how they produced compared to plants being fed with SMR Farms’ current fertilizer.

“We’ve done business with SMR for 20 years, and they’ve always been willing to try innovative things,” Carey said. “The idea was, ‘Let’s give it a shot and see if we can take some of the carbon out of the system without raising costs for the farmers or without raising costs for ourselves.’”

After developing a plan for a long-term trial, SMR Farms now has dedicated 30 of its 1,260 acres of citrus trees to the cause. The test site isn’t enormous in terms of acreage, but it is enough to have an impact should things turn out poorly.

“We’re taking some risk, but we know the fundamental ingredients (of the fertilizers are the same,” Carraway said. “If we saw no (negative) change in tree health, it would be a huge victory.”

The 30-acre grove area is divided into three parts with one part using a mainstream fertilizer called Yara and another section using a fertilizer called Outlook Resource, which uses raw waste and material waste to produce heat in the manufacturing process. The third section of grove is being applied with SMR Farms’ current fertilizer as a constant. Each grove section under the trial even is getting varied amounts of fertilizer to see which combination produces the best results.

Carraway said SMR Farms is calculating to see if the alternative fertilizers will come out at a comparable cost to the fertilizer it now uses and to make sure trees using the new fertilizes have a consistent agriculture result, meaning they produce similar or higher fruit yields with similar or higher juice quality and quantity.
“The acre-for-acre results need to be the same,” Carraway said.

So far, SMR Farms has done its first two applications of the new fertilizers. The first crop of Valencia oranges to be grown and picked completely under the nutritional support of Yara and Outlook Resource won’t happen until spring 2011. Although true results won’t be evident for several years, by next year, SMR Farms will have a good idea of what the prognosis will be.

“Each year, we’ll have a clearer picture, but we’ll have some indicator in a year,” Carraway said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].