77-year-old Florida Blueberry Farmer is a Trailblazer
The owner of Straughn Farms in Waldo, Fla is 77-year-old Alto Straughn. For nearly 40 years, agriculture has been his life. With help from the University of Florida, he has been a major player in developing the state’s blueberry industry.
After three years in Marion County and Ocala as an Extension agent, Straughn got his PhD in Extension Administration. While continuing to develop his farm, he worked the next 20 years developing Florida’s Cooperative Extension Service program.
He was in the beef cattle business, the watermelon business, and then the blueberry business in 1983. He started small and has been expanding ever since.
Early on while in Extension, he saw many programs and research methods that he thought would be useful. He tried some ideas before the University did. He applied the research without any red tape, and learned what worked and what didn’t work for him, with focus on the blueberries. Straughn began with 25 acres dedicated to blueberries, and then doubled that in his second year. He had hoped to continue adding 25 acres each year, but soil problems slowed him down.
However, the latest blueberry breeding methods led to the development of new southern highbush blueberry varieties that were more immune to the problems he was facing. Those varieties are still being used today in a flourishing blueberry economy. After retiring in the late 80s, Straughn added to his blueberry acres and showed that a nice profit could be made for Florida blueberry growers.
His next big obstacle was a fungus disease called Botryosphaeria stem blight. It will kill a plant within a decade, and require much replanting. The University of Florida has tackled this issue with breeding practices that led to blight-resistant varieties.
There have been other issues through the years, but Straughn has tackled them all and still plants nearly 700 acres of blueberries. And he’s hoping for more. With close ties U of F, he is hoping to continue his goal of improving blueberry quality for Florida growers.
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