History: Crops

History: Crops. Historic Florida Barge Canal Trail. World Reputation. The Greenway region has been referred to historically as the "Agricultural Heart of the South." It was also called the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy" and the "Breadbasket of Florida." Farm products from this region are still shipped all over the world. In the 1800s there were over 400 working farms shipping products to market on the Ocklawaha and Withlacoochee Rivers: alfalfa, corn, sugar cane, peppers, exotic Chinese peaches and German millet (cereal). When the Florida Railroad was built, those farm products became even more valuable., Cracked and Boiled. Peanut production is still a major business in the Greenway region. It has been for more than 100 years. While there are over 11,000 varieties of peanuts world-wide, production here centers on green peanuts and roasting peanuts (Runners, Valencia, Virginia and Spanish). Of the thousands of acres used for peanuts, about half are grown for peanut butter., Citrus Production. In the mid-1800s, citrus trees grew wild in Florida's forests. Farmers began cultivating orange groves in the St. John's River area. The Great Freeze of 1894-95 ruined many groves, so most of the growers moved their operations farther south in Florida. However, citrus production remained strong in the Greenway area until World War II., "The citrus trees, heavy with pale green globes of grapefruit, tangerines and oranges, mingled with palms and moss-draped [trees]." , From "The Yearling" a fictional rendering of the challenges of citrus farming near the Greenway written by Margorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953). She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for her book that also reflected the lives of her Florida Cracker neighbors.