Florida’s Heartland

By Garcia, Jason

Proquest LLC

Stretching south in midstate Florida from southern Polk County down Florida's spine, the Heartland region encompasses the counties of Hardee, DeSoto, Highlands, Glades, Hendry and Okeechobee. Small towns like Arcadia, Sebring, Wauchula and Lake Placid dot the landscape, but the area is largely rural. With the exception of northwest Florida counties, the Heartland has the most traditionally "Southern" flavor of Florida's regions: The lineage of many families here goes back generations. Voters tend to be conservative, "blue-dog" Democrats who are likely to vote Republican these days. Tourists come here to hunt, fish and paddle or for the LeMans-style sports car race in Sebring. Local events include a Swamp Cabbage Festival, Sugar Festival, Speckled Perch Festival and Calladium Festival.

The list of the Heartland's biggest employers tells the region's economic story: With the exception of a roof tile manufacturer in Okeechobee County and a call center in Highlands, the 50 biggest employers all are engaged in either health care, distribution or, predominantly, agribusiness - raising cattle, growing and processing sugarcane, orchids, citrus, tomatoes and other row crops, or making fertilizer. Most businesses are small and local.

That's not to say everyone's satisfied with the status quo, which features too few good-paying jobs and too few opportunities for the children of families who love the Heartland's quality of life. DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee counties all are on the state's list of Rural Areas of Critical Economic Concern. Per capita income in Hendry County, for example, was just $14,885 in the 2008-12 period, compared to $26,451 statewide, and the county lost 4% of its population between 2010 and 2013, according to U.S. Census data.

But change is coming, driven in part by larger economic forces. In the region's northern tier, giant phosphate mining firm Mosaic is moving to expand its operations in Hardee, where it owns some 36,000 acres, and, in time, mine 18,000 acres the company owns in DeSoto. The company is working with local economic development agencies to set the stage for the counties' future after Mosaic has finished mining and reclaiming its land.

Further south, international trade and congestion at coastal ports is creating opportunities in the distribution field: Ag and development firms Lykes Bros. and A. Duda & Sons are collaborating on a 6,700-acre "inland port" called America's Gateway Logistics Center.

Agriculture continues to evolve throughout the region. Greening, canker and the global economy are reshaping the citrus industry, forcing smaller growers into alternative crops or to sell to bigger operators. In Hendry County, BioNitrogen Holdings broke ground recently on a multimillion-dollar high-tech plant that converts biomass into urea fertilizer.

Meanwhile, the Heartland tries to keep pace technologically in other ways. A regional economic group - Florida's Heartland Regional Economic Development Initiative - created a high-speed wireless broadband network throughout the Heartland.

The region is also continuing to build on its heritage. The Arcadia All Florida Championship Rodeo, which draws 30,000 visitors annually, recently embarked on a capital campaign to build an equestrian complex.

As it sidles toward change, the region's business community is looking to refine rather than drastically alter its economic mix. Heartland counties appear to take seriously the idea of preserving the area's rural quality of life as they pursue development. "We don't want to set the world on fire," says one. "We just want a good economic base."

* DeSoto

The county is home to a Florida Power & Light "solar energy center," which has 90,500 solar panels that track the sun's course. The plant was the largest solar facility of its kind in the nation when it opened in 2009.

* Population: 34,517

* White: 55.4%

* Hispanic/Latino: 30.2%

* African-American: 13.3%

* Median household income (2008-12): $35,683

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 10.8%

* Fort Meade/Southern Polk County

Settled in 1849 during the Seminole Indian Wars, Fort Meade is the oldest city in Polk County. The area is hoping for a tourism boost following the opening this year of Streamsong, an $80-million golf resort built on reclaimed mine land by Mosaic.

* Population (city): 5,802

* White: 54.2%

* Hispanic/Latino: 26.1%

* African-American: 18.2%

* Median household income (2008-12): $44,694

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 11.4%

* Glades

The smallest county by population in the Heartland, Glades County hugs the western shore of Lake Okeechobee. It is the only county in the region to experience population growth since 2010, growing 3.6%.

* Population: 13,345 * White: 60.6%

* Hispanic/Latino: 21.8%

* African-American: 13.5%

* Median household income (2008-12): $35,219

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 10.2%

* Hardee

Almost one-third (29.7%) of Hardee County residents live below the poverty line, the highest percentage in the state.

* Population: 27,519

* White: 47.6%

* Hispanic/Latino: 42.9%

* African-American: 7.5%

* Median household income (2008-12): $36,115

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 8.7%

* Hendry

The home of U.S. Sugar, Hendry County is the only majority-Hispanic county in the region. Eight out of every 10 jobs (79.8%) are in agriculture, more than anywhere else in Florida.

* Population: 37,471

* White: 34.5%

* Hispanic/Latino: 50.3%

* African-American: 13.4%

* Median Household Income (2008-12): $35,736

Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 9.7%

* Highlands

The county seat, Sebring (pop. 10,331), is the biggest city in the Heartland. Boosted by events such as the world famous "12 Hours of Sebring" auto race, Highlands generates the most money in the region from taxes on hotel and motel room rentals: $319,000 in 2012-13.

* Population: 97,616

* White: 69.2%

* Hispanic/Latino: 18.2%

* African-American: 10.4%

* Median household income (2008-12): $35,350

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 15.2%

* Okeechobee

Okeechobee is the top cattle-ranching county in Florida for both beef and dairy cows, with about 135,000 head of cattle.

* Population: 39,330

* White: 64.0%

* Hispanic/Latino: 24.7%

* African-American: 8.9%

* Median household income (2008-12): $34,289

* Bachelor's degree or higher, age 25+: 10.3%

* Mosaic Co.

No company will stamp its mark on Florida's Heartland more in the coming years than Mosaic, the phosphate-mining giant that is in the midst of a massive expansion.

The company is moving south as it exhausts the phosphate at its mines in Polk, Hillsborough and Manatee counties. It is now excavating phosphate from a nearly 11,000-acre tract at South Fort Meade in Hardee County. Earlier this year, it closed on a $1.4-billion deal to buy CF Industries Holdings' phosphate business, which included the 25,000-acre South Pasture mine, also in Hardee.

Meanwhile, the company is applying for permits for two new phosphate mines: A 22,000-acre property, dubbed "Ona," in Hardee County near the Manatee line, and an 18,000-acre site in DeSoto County. Construction on both is expected to begin in the next five to 10 years.

Together, the Ona and DeSoto properties hold about 400 million tons of phosphate reserves - more than twice as much as the rest of the company's mines combined. Mosaic, which had $6.5 billion in phosphate fertilizer sales in 2013, owns nearly 94,000 acres in the region.

Mosaic is politically active. It was among the companies that lobbied for state-created, rather than federal, water-quality standards, and to allow capital-intensive companies to use a more favorable formula when calculating their tax bills.

The company has also faced legal challenges from an assortment of groups, including the Sierra Club. One dispute forced it to shut down its South Fort Meade operations for 18 months between 2010 and 2012, putting several hundred employees out of work. The two sides ultimately negotiated a settlement in which Mosaic agreed to donate for conservation the "Peaceful Horse Ranch," a 4,414-acre tract along the Peace River, and spend $2 million for its upkeep. Mosaic took a $13-million pretax charge on the settlement.

Mosiac is proactive in enlisting community support. To help win local approval for the Hardee County extension of the South Fort Meade Mine, it agreed to give the county $42 million over 10 years to spend on infrastructure and economic development. Once approvals are granted for an extension at its South Pasture mine, Mosaic says it will give another $10 million to Hardee County to develop local educational and recreational facilities. And the company contributes "several million" dollars a year to central Florida charities, including a recent grant to the DeSoto County Historical Society.

The company's impact on the Heartland will endure long after it's finished mining. Required to reclaim every acre it mines, Mosaic returns mine lands into useful real estate, from environmentally important wetlands to public parks. The company also has begun exploring commercial redevelopment of some of its reclaimed land, with the opening earlier this year of a golf resort called Streamsong on 16,000 acres of formerly mined land in southern Polk County.

More development could be in Mosaic's future. "Going forward," the company says, "Mosaic will look at all of our land holdings opportunistically, from both an environmental and economic perspective."

* Tourism/Culture

Anglers from all over the country flock to Lake Okeechobee, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the United States. Other natural jewels, such as the Peace River, also draw eco-tourists and outdoor-sports enthusiasts. Highlands Hammock State Park is one of the oldest in the Florida state park system.

The Alan Altvater Cultural Center on the shores of Lake Jackson in Sebring houses an art museum and a playhouse. Lake Placid is known as the "city of murals" for the 44 colorful murals painted on the sides of buildings around the town. Arcadia is a popular spot for antiquing.

Myriad events celebrate local culture, such as LaBelle's Swamp Cabbage Festival in February. In March, Sebring International Raceway hosts the "12 Hours of Sebring," a globally recognized endurance race whose winners have included the likes of Mario Andretti and Bobby Rahal. Also that month, cowboys saddle up in Arcadia for the annual All-Florida Championship Rodeo, and Okeechobee's Speckled Perch Festival kicks off.

Gatorama, an alligator and crocodile farm in Palmdale, bills itself as one of Florida's few remaining, original roadside attractions.

In addition, high school football is enormously popular: Glades Central, on the eastern bank of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, has produced more than two dozen National Football League players.

* Agriculture

Everything from arugula to zucchini is grown in the Heartland, where farming remains the dominant industry. Nearly 56,000 workers are employed in agriculture and related industries, according to the University of Florida'sInstitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, a figure that swells to more than 148,000 when the much larger, more populous Polk County is included. The region is home to the top five orange-producing counties in Florida, as well as the only two counties with more than 100,000 head of cattle.

Around Lake Okeechobee, sugar is king. The Heartland is also a major supplier of bell peppers, tomatoes, watermelons, snap beans and squash.

* Manufacturing/Logistics

Local business and civic leaders are pushing hard to position the Heartland as a global logistics and distribution center, trumpeting easy access to major population centers, transportation hubs and countless acres of developable land. Agribusinesses A. Duda & Sons and Lykes Bros. are jointly developing and marketing a commercial warehousing and manufacturing hub in Moore Haven, while U.S. Sugar and Hilliard Bros. are trying to take a county-owned airport in Clewiston private, with a goal of making it a major cargo airport handling overflow business from Miami International Airport. Walmart opened a nearly 1-million-sq.-ft. distribution center in 2005 in Arcadia, near the DeSoto-Charlotte county line. Florida Power & Light has acquired a pair of roughly 3,000-acre parcels in Hendry and Okeechobee counties on which the utility says it may one day build "large-scale" power-generation facilities.

* Health Care

Health care is one of the biggest employing sectors in the Heartland outside of agriculture and government. Altamonte Springs-based Adventist Health System has three hospitals in the region through its Florida Hospital Heartland division, including a flagship, 147-bed hospital in Sebring where the company has recently invested in robotic knee surgery. Adventist Health also owns a 25-bed hospital in Wauchula and a 50-bed facility in Lake Placid. The privately owned Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation, one of the largest brain-injury recovery centers in the nation, is in Wauchula, though the facility has been troubled in recent years by claims of patient abuse and is operating under the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy laws.

* Made in the Heartland

* CPR Tools: Based in LaBelle, the data recovery and security company makes products like the "PSICIone," a handheld device that can be used to recover files and information from the hard drives of computers, phones and other devices, and the "Hammer," which can be used to wipe hard drives clean. The company also provides recovery and eradication services; bring your broken laptop into an OfficeMax anywhere in the country, and the store will use CPR software and tools to restore files. Owner John Benkert, a former National Security Agency employee, says CPR Tools does about $8 million a year in revenue and has about 30 employees.

* Big Employers

* Agero: The car-safety technology and insurance claims management company, based in Medford, Mass., provides roadside assistance and accident management from a call center in Sebring, where it employs about 500.

* Alan Jay Automotive: The auto dealer, with about a dozen franchises spread among Sebring, Wauchula, Avon Park and Clewiston, has close to 300 employees. CEO Alan Wildstein also owns a Gold's Gym, a Sunoco gas station and convenience store in Sebring, with about 25 more employees combined.

* Delray Plants: Based in Venus, the nursery provides foliage to major retailers and was recently ranked as the 14th-largest grower in the U.S. It's also on the short list of nurseries eligible to grow medical marijuana under a new state law.

* Entegra Roof Tile: The family-owned company in Okeechobee has been making concrete roof tiles for more than 25 years.

* Florida Hospital: Owned by Altamonte Springs-based Adventist Health System, the hospital chain has more than 1,500 employees in the region, spread among facilities in Sebring, Wauchula and Lake Placid.

* Lykes Bros.: One of the largest private landowners in the United States, the Tampa-based agribusiness has cow, forestry, sugarcane and landscape operations on a 337,000-acre ranch stretching between Glades and Highlands counties and more than 30,000 acres of citrus groves spread across three counties. It also operates an insurance company and an increasingly important development arm, Lykes Land Investments.

* Mosaic: The phosphate company employs about 440 at its South Fort Meade and South Pasture mines. New mines planned in Hardee and DeSoto counties will eventually employ 500 to 600 full-time workers, although some of those jobs will replace vanishing positions at older mines.

* Made in the Heartland

* Sun Bulb: Headquartered in a building that the company's founder once used to bottle barbecue sauce, Sun Bulb sells orchids - and everything else needed to grow and care for the popular flowers - through its "Better-Gro" line of products, which are sold at major retailers such as Lowe's and Home Depot. Founded in 1956, the company has a little over six acres of greenhouses around Arcadia - plus a growing operation in Apopka - and employs more than 50 people.

* TKM Farms: The family-owned, 4,500-acre farm is the largest lettuce grower east of the Mississippi, growing both iceberg and romaine lettuce. The farm also grows baby spinach, spring mix and endive, cabbage, parsley and cilantro.

* U.S. Sugar: The Clewiston-based agribusiness employs about 1,700 full-time workers and owns about 205,000 acres in Hendry, Glades and Palm Beach counties. In addition to harvesting and refining surgarcane, U.S. Sugar owns Southern Gardens Citrus, one of the largest independent suppliers of not-from-concentrate orange juice, and a short-line railroad that connects with tracks owned by CSX and Florida East Coast Railway.

* Walmart: The world's largest retailer has six supercenters scattered around the region and a nearly 1 million-sq.-ft. distribution center in Arcadia, employing approximately 2,300 people combined.

* Promising New Businesses

* BioNitrogen Holdings: Backed by millions of dollars in state incentives, the company is planning a $300-million plant in Hendry County that will turn agricultural waste and other biomass into fertilizer. It's the first plant for the West Palm Beach-based business.

* Charles Industries: The Illinois company opened a $3.85-million facility in Okeechobee last year, where it makes "handholes," underground boxes that telecom companies and utilities use to house splice points and other wiring. The handholes coming out of the Okeechobee plant are made of fiberglass injected with resin, making them lighter - and cheaper to transport - than those of precast concrete.

* Florikan: The company expects to move its manufacturing operations from Sarasota to Wauchula by next summer. The company makes a patented polymer coating that applies to fertilizer to create a longer-lasting, controlled-release product.

* Gulf Coast Supply: The maker of metal roofs moved into a 110,000-sq.-ft. facility at Sebring Regional Airport in January and has hired about 23 workers.

* Natural Ag Solutions: The Sebring company has patented the amino acid complexed copper behind its signature product, Cop-R-Quik, a fertilizer that is sprayed directly onto leaves rather than into the ground. The company says the product can help farmers bypass root or soil issues that can thwart ground-based fertilizers.

* Streamsong: The Mosaic-owned luxury resort near the Polk-Hardee line was completed in January and could become one of the Heartland's biggest tourism magnets. The $80-million development includes a 216-room lodge, a spa and a rooftop lounge, and a lakeside Clubhouse, with 12 rooms, a golf shop and a steakhouse-themed restaurant. But the big draws are the two 18-hole golf courses: "Streamsong Blue," designed by Tom Doak, and "Streamsong Red," designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw." Built on 16,000 acres of former phosphate mine, Streamsong is Mosaic's first venture into real-estate development in Florida.

* Made in the Heartland

* Sebring Custom Tanning: The only exotic tannery in Florida, the 27-year-old business tanned about 15,000 alligator hides last year. Owner Dave Travers, who employs nine, says he also tans a variety of other hides, from pythons to elk. Travers' daughter has her own business turning tanned gator pelts into purses.

* K-12

Glades County has the region's highest-ranked school district, earning a "B" in the Florida Department of Education's preliminary ranking for 2014. It is the district's fifth "A" or "B" in the last seven years; Highlands and Okeechobee received a "C" for its preliminary 2014 grade, while all of the remaining districts received "D's."

* Higher Education

South Florida State College has six locations around Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties, serving about 2,900 students and offering associate's degrees in more than 60 fields and 13 bachelor's degree programs. Indian River State College'sDixon Hendry campus in Okeechobee includes the 15,000-sq.-ft. Williamson Center. Florida SouthWestern State College (known until this summer as Edison State College) serves about 500 students at its Hendry/Glades Center in LaBelle.

* Transportation

* Highways: U.S. Highway 27 is the major artery through the region. Economic developers also tout the region's easy access to three interstates - 1-4, I-75 and I-95 - and Florida's Turnpike.

* Ports: Seven deepwater ports are within a two-hour drive from the region.

* Rail: The U.S. Sugar-owned South Central Florida Express railway provides direct access to tracks owned by CSX and Florida East Coast Railway. Fort Myers-based Seminole Gulf Railway links to CSX tracks in Arcadia. CSX opened a 318-acre intermodal terminal earlier this year in Winter Haven. Amtrak has stations in Sebring and Okeechobee.

* Airports: Sebring Regional Airport is one of two regional airports in the area, along with Immokalee in eastern Collier County. The airport is attempting to develop a 2,000-acre commerce park.

Led by U.S. Sugar and Hilliard Bros., a group of companies and investors is attempting to buy county-owned Airglades Airport in Clewiston, one of just two airports currently moving through the Federal Aviation Administration's airport privatization program. The two agribusinesses own a 51% stake in Airglades International Airport LLC, which wants to raise between $400 million and $500 million to buy the nearly 3,000-acre property and develop it into a cargo facility that would handle overflow business from Miami International Airport. The infrastructure upgrades would include construction of a roughly 400,000-sq.-ft. refrigerated warehouse for storing perishable goods - including fresh-cut flowers, which officials say could account for close to 40% of the cargo. The companies hope to open the operation by late 2017.

* Workforce Training

Four regional workforce agencies serve the area, with half a dozen career center offices around the region. Construction should begin within the year on the "Gateway Logistics and Manufacturing Training Center," following a $3.5-million outlay from the Florida Legislature this year. The training center is meant to be an incentive for businesses thinking about locating in a manufacturing and logistics center being developed by A. Duda & Sons and Lykes Bros.

* Florida Rural Broadband Alliance

The $34-million project, financed primarily by the federal government, to extend broadband Internet coverage to two of Florida's rural counties was completed at the end of last year. The project covered two regions - the Heartland and northwest Florida - that together represented nearly 20% of the land area in Florida Only 39% of the population in the two regions had access to broadband service when the project started in 2010. Austin-based Affiniti was hired in May to manage and operate the network.

* Americas Gateway Logistics Center

A joint venture between A. Duda & Sons and Lykes Bros., the planned industrial park is located west of Moore Haven within 1,959 acres of agricultural property owned by the agribusinesses. Boosters envision it as a hub for manufacturing and distribution activity. The initial phase comprises about 800 acres with frontage on U.S. Highway 27 and the U.S. Sugar-owned South Central Florida Express rail line. The management group says it is "actively negotiating" with potential initial tenants. It has hired Panattoni Development to market and develop the center. A publicly funded training center on adjacent property is intended to help lure companies to the industrial park.

* Made in the Heartland

* Tecnam: The Italian manufacturer of light aircraft moved into a 21,000-sq.-ft. facility at Sebring Regional Airport this year and filled its first order less than three months later. The company hopes to eventually employ up to 150 at the Sebring facility, which will be its headquarters for the Americas.

* Must-Know Contacts

* Ben Albritton: State representative

* Erin Archey: President, Americas Gateway Logistics Center

* Melony Bell: Polk County commissioner

* Sue Birge: Hardee County commissioner

* Doyle Carlton Ill: Rancher

* Robert Coker: Senior vice president for public affairs, U.S. Sugar

* Gary "Bo" Davis: Senior vice president/phosphate operations, Mosaic

* Donna Doubleday: President/CEO, CareerSource Heartland

* Fred Ford: President, Airglades International Airport

* Bill Galvano: State senator

* Ford Heacock: President, Heacock Insurance Group

* Tom and Rodney Hollingsworth: Co-owners, Sun Bulb

* Matt Hudson: State representative

* Joey Hoover: Okeechobee County commissioner

* Bill Lambert: Director, Hardee County Economic Development Council

* Patricia Land: Regional vice president/economic and community development, Florida South Western State College

* John Benkert

The president and CEO of CPR Tools, a data recovery and eradication business in LaBelle, joined the company in 2004 after working for the National Security Agency. He sits on the boards of the Hendry County Economic Development Council and the Hendry Regional Medical Center.

* Denise Grimsley

The state senator has represented parts of the Heartland since 2004, serving eight years in the state House and then winning election to the Senate in 2012. A registered nurse, she is also the vice president in charge of Florida Hospital'sWauchula location and is considered one of the leading health care experts in Tallahassee.

* Mark Morton

The director of strategic real estate and business developments for U.S. Sugar is the company's point man on the Airglades International Airport project and previously oversaw the Americas Gateway Logistics Center project for Lykes Bros.

* Andy Tuck

The owner of Natural AG Solutions has been a citrus farmer for more than two decades.

A former Highlands County School Board member, he was appointed this year by Gov. Rick Scott to the state Board of Education.

* Thomas Leitzel: President, South Florida State College

* Charlie Lykes Jr.: President/COO, Lykes Bros.

* Paul McGhee: Director/business development, Glades Electric Cooperative

* Marty McKenna: Chairman, Florida Citrus Commission

* Al Perry: City manager, Clewiston

* Cary Pigman: State representative

* Gina Reynolds: President/ CEO, Florida Heartland Regional Economic Development Initiative

* John Scherlecher: Director, Highlands County Visitor & Convention Bureau

* Eric Stevens: CEO, Florida Hospital Heartland Division

* Karen Swager: Vice president/mining operations, Mosaic

* Karson Turner: Hendry County commissioner

* Stephen Weeks: Executive director, Highlands County Economic Development Commission

* Tracy Whirls: Executive director, Glades County Economic Development Council

* Alan Wildstein: President/ CEO, Alan Jay Automotive

* Wes Williamson: Past-president, Florida Cattlemen's Association

* Mike Willingham: Executive director, Sebring Regional Airport

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