RICK ROTH AND RAY’S HERITAGE LLC

New Belle Glade packinghouse is designed with quality in mind

A worker fills boxes with freshly harvested green beans at the new Ray's Heritage LLC facility in Belle Glade.

After months of construction and years of planning, the latest page in the history of Roth Farms has turned and a new facility is open and ready for business.

Rick Roth, president of Roth Farms, says it’s been a long time coming. For years, Roth’s operation used a packinghouse owned by South Bay Growers, a longtime player in South Florida’s agriculture industry. In 1981, South Bay Growers became part of U.S. Sugar Corp. and later closed down its vegetable operation. Roth has been leasing part of the facility since.

“Ever since South Bay Growers closed in 1994, we saw the need to build this facility,” Roth said. “We wanted to try to do a better job with handling the product, cooling the product – just do an all-around better job of providing a good product to our customers.”

The new facility, called Ray’s Heritage LLC in honor of Rick ’s father, Ray Roth, started packing green beans January 1, 2007, and began cooling and shipping produce in March 2007. The facility became fully operational April 9, 2007 with a state-of-the-art radish packing line.

FACILITY FEATURES THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

Under construction in 2006, Ray's Heritage, LLC, opened in 2007.

The Ray’s Heritage packinghouse was built with food safety foremost in mind. In addition to its high-tech equipment for grading and sorting, the facility uses all ammonia refrigeration.

“There’s a certain fear about ammonia,” said Roth. “But with new technology, which is what really sold us on going forward, we’re able to monitor all the functions of the refrigeration system. A mechanic or a technician can go online anywhere and see exactly what’s going on with our system. Then they can tweak it, turn things on and off, whatever needs to be done,” he said.

The computer system monitors the room temperature as well as water temperatures so technicians can keep close track of the water that’s cooling the product.

“We download the data very monring, so we have a history on everything that happens in case there are any problems," Roth said. The most impressive feature is the four-tube hydrocooler. The system uses ammonia to cool glycol, a substance similar to anti-freeze, which cools the water that cools the produce, while still providing maximum efficiency and flexibility.

“HERITAGE” APTLY NAMED

Ray Roth, father of Rick Roth, is shown in one of the sprawling South Florida lettuce fields that became the signature of the newly developing Roth Farms operations in Florida. Under the late Mr. Roth's leadership, Roth Farms became a leading producer of South Florida winter vegetables in Belle Glade in the years following World War II.

Rick Roth’s father and grandfather began farming in Belle Glade in 1949 after they were unable to expand their farming operation in Ohio. An Ohio acquaintance owned Belle Glade farm land, so they decided to jump when opportunity knocked, leasing some of the land. “Dad started off leasing 100 acres. He came down all by himself with his dog and his one-row vegetable planter. It was the American dream,” Roth said, adding that the time was right. “That’s when people were getting into shipping produce longer distances because of the development of improved refrigeration techniques.”

Soon the Roth family sold all its land in Ohio and became a full-time Florida producer with the purchase of its first 110 acres in 1955. Ray Roth had married one of the daughters of a local farmer and banker, Walter Hooker, in 1951, and the two were raising Rick and his three sisters as well as leafy vegetables and radishes. Ray Roth started Roth Farms, Inc. and expanded with the purchase of 1,600 acres in 1962. “That was a direct effect of Castro’s rise to power,” Roth said. “A Cuban family had an option to buy that land, but they let the option expire because they thought they were going back to Cuba. My dad and two others were able to put a down payment on a sizable tract."

Rick Roth, left, and Craig Pate, center, are shown with Gov. Lawton Chiles during a legislative session in Tallahassee. Roth was president of the Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau, which developed an important presence in state agricultural affairs during his tenure. -Photo by Larry Tucker

Life was good in the 1960s. Ray Roth and Roth Farms was one of the 52 growers that formed a cooperative so they could grow sugar cane and produce raw sugar. Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative is the largest employer in Belle Glade, and continues to provide economic stability to the rural community.

“In 1969, my dad became the first leafy vegetable grower for South Bay Growers,” said Roth. “Back then, all they were growing was celery and sweet corn. Dad was the first to grow endive and escarole for the company."

Roth put his equipment in South Bay facility and became successful at not only producing leafy greens but radishes as well.

ROTH FACES CHALLENGES  

In the 1970s and '80s, the Roth operation continued to expand with the purchase of two more farms, further expansion in sugar cane and the addition of rice as a rotation crop. Roth was learning what it took to be successful in the business from his dad, who encouraged him to participate in the Florida Farm Bureau's Young Farmer and Rancher Program (http://floridafarmbureau.org/programs_YFR.aspx). “They have a state committee that I served on for awhile, and I served on the county board for a couple of years. In 1985, I became the president of Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau.” Then his father passed away in April 1986.

“A lot of people thought that I wouldn’t want to continue on as president,” Roth said. “They figured I had more important things to worry about. But I told them that continuing on was important. I guess my dad always taught me to be proactive and get involved.” That attitude continues today as Roth serves his fourth two-year term as Florida Farm Bureau vice president and as a member of FFVA’s Board of Directors since 1986.

Roth married Jeanie Larsen from West Palm Beach in May 1978 and they soon moved to Wellington. Although Roth continues to live in the West Palm Beach suburb, his heart is still in Belle Glade. “I always tell people that I live in Belle Glade, I just sleep in Wellington,” he said.

His feelings for Belle Glade run deep. He has a special regard for the residents of this rural agricultural community. “The people are hard-working and dedicated. They’re trustworthy. You develop the kind of lifelong relationships with people that just don't happen in a big-city environment.”

Rick Roth demonstrates how the Ray's Heritage refrigeration system uses ammonia to cool glycol, a substance similar to anti-freeze, which then cools the water that keeps fresh produce at optimal temperatures.

He attributes much of his success to relationships his father developed in the community. “I’m still benefiting from those friendships,” he said.

Roth’s operation has expanded over the years to include sod, sweet corn, green beans and field-grown palm trees in addition to the farm's mainstays of leafy greens, radishes, rice and sugar cane. "Managing weather and market risks is the farm's biggest challenge. Diversification spreads the risk." Just as important, the diversity has allowed him to maintain a steady work force. “It gives you the flexibility to move people from one crop to the next, which helps you hold your labor cost down. For example, people who harvest radishes in the winter are harvesting rice in the summer.”

THE ISSUE IS IMAGE

Rick Roth, center, was a pioneer in South Florida's Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher organization and is shown here with other YF&R members at the Belle Glade Farm Bureau office.

As someone who has been involved in many areas of the industry, Roth has seen the issues affecting Florida agriculture evolve over the years. One issue, however, remains constant. “I think one of the highest priorities for the agriculture industry is just to be better understood. I think people don’t fully understand the depth and the strength of people in ag. It’s a unique business,” he said.

“For example, because we are different, we look at our labor force differently. These people have special skills and we have special needs. The relationship between the grower and his work force is very special. Our goal is to provide the best work environment possible.

The new Ray's Heritage logo features an image of Rick Roth's father and grandfather.

Roth appreciates the opportunity to farm in the South Florida area, saying that an April frost in South Carolina could wipe out next year's peach crop, but he's able to spread out the risk factor by growing up to to six radish crops in six months on the same tract, and following that with lettuce, sweet corn, rice or sugar cane.

“Basically, I farm year-round. I tell people ‘welcome to paradise’. This is as good as it gets in farming.”

Photo at top of page by Larry Tucker