What if the future of Florida citrus doesn’t look like the past you remember—but something far more determined, and far more unexpected?
This past weekend, my latest piece, Roots of Resilience, was published in Heartland Living Magazine. It begins in the quiet glow of a citrus grove at sunrise—but quickly reveals a deeper story unfolding across Florida’s heartland.
At a time when disease, drought, and freezes are testing the very survival of the industry, a new generation of leaders is stepping forward. Women like Morgan McKenna Porter, Emma Reynolds Ezell, and Katie Bevilacqua aren’t just preserving a legacy—they’re redefining it.
Their work isn’t loud. It doesn’t seek headlines. But it may very well determine what ends up in your glass tomorrow morning.
Heartland Living Magazine is an upscale publication published in the heartland counties of Florida*.
Roots of Resilience
Notable Women Fighting for the Future of Heartland Citrus
April 6, 2026
By R. Michael Brown | Heartland Living Magazine feature story writer
At sunrise in a Florida citrus grove, the air carries a faint sweetness — the scent of orange blossoms warming in the first light of day — like that glass of OJ you’re enjoying for breakfast.
Rows of trees stretch toward the horizon, their branches heavy with fruit that must still be picked by hand, just as they have been for generations.
Walking those groves today are growers like Morgan McKenna Porter, Emma Reynolds Ezell, and Katie Bevilacqua — women helping guide Florida citrus through one of the most challenging chapters in its history. Disease and this season of drought and freezes are reshaping the landscape of the industry, but in groves across the state, growers continue tending the trees with the same patience and optimism that built Florida citrus in the first place.
Their stories reflect a truth long understood by those who work the land: citrus has always required grit and resilience. And in the hands of growers like Porter, Ezell, and Bevilacqua, the future of Florida citrus is still being written — one season, and one tree, at a time.
See Full Article Online [Heartland Living Magazine]
*This upscale magazine, delivers a fresh perspective featuring the area’s most interesting people, arts, cuisine, entertainment, shops, fashion, charities and all the beautiful things the Heartland of Florida has to offer: DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee and Polk Counties.
