William “Bill” H. Krome was born in Homestead and grew up amidst the family’s avocado and fruit groves. Krome worked for the United Fruit Company in Honduras for 14 months before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Florida with a degree in agriculture. Over the years, the business grew from 10 acres – bought in 1929 for $72 – to 350 acres of avocados and tropical fruits. Krome donated the land for UF’s Tropical Research and Education Center. He was the director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association for decades. His recognitions and awards include the Centro Campesino Farmworker Center Award for Service to the Migrant Community and the Florida State Horticultural Society A.F. Camp Club Award for Contributions in Horticultural Science.
J.R. “Jack” Spratt was a native of North Carolina whose accomplishments spanned all aspects of Florida agriculture, from citrus groves to cattle ranches, forestry projects, mining operations and vegetable production. Spratt graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in forestry and he became assistant state forester after serving in the Navy during World War II. He was a member of the Hendry County School Board and the South Florida Water Management District governing board and received the Florida Forestry Association’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Forestry and the Florida Wildlife Federation’s Outstanding Work in Wildlife Management and Conservation award.
Raymon F. Tucker is a fifth-generation, self-described “Florida Cracker” born in Christmas, and a champion quarter horse breeder and cattleman. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1938 with a degree in animal science. He is credited with popularizing quarter horse racing in the Southeast and was instrumental in the passage of legislation permitting quarter horse racing at thoroughbred tracks in Florida. Tucker was the first president of both the Atlantic Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association and the Florida Horse Breeders Council and was honored as the “Outstanding Man in Agriculture” by the Florida Association of County Agricultural Agents and the “Faithful Service to the Cattle Industry of Florida” award from the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.
The late Robert “Bob” Billingsly Whisenant was born in Cuba in 1903 and came to Florida in 1914 and attended the University of Florida where he majored in civil engineering and then took a job as an engineer with the East Coast Railroad. Drawing on his background as an engineer, Whisenant put sub-irrigation in many fields and was known as the “father” of low-density or wide-row farming, more commonly known as the “Whisenant system.” Whisenant designed floodgates for use next to saltwater, was the first to practice seepage irrigation in tomato fields, designed and built the water wheel setting machine and developed the basket-tie method of tying tomatoes. He was the director of the Bradenton Production Credit Association and an inductee into the Manatee County Agriculture Hall of Fame.
Stephen Monroe Yoder was born in 1948 in Greenwood, Del., but grew up on a 45-cow dairy farm in Calhoun County. A devout Mennonite, Yoder’s life consisted of devotion to his God, his family and agriculture. In 1978, Yoder and his wife started Bluebird Farm, near the Yoder home-place and turned the venture into a successful farming operation of several thousand acres, with a crop mix of soybeans, peanuts, corn, wheat, watermelons, rice, tomatoes, cotton, a cow/calf operation and Holstein dairy farm. He was the president of the Florida Soybean Association and was the director the American Soybean Association from 1987 until his death in 1994, and was president in 1993. Yoder was a founding member and speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Farmers International and was elected president of the International Foundation for Agriculture. His honors include the 1994 Outstanding Florida Dairy Family, Progressive Farmer’s “Man of the Year in Service to Agriculture,” and Friend of Extension Award from Phi Sigma Chi.
