by RYAN MILEJCZAK
photo provided by Florida Citrus Mutual
Every year, AgNet Media recognizes one person for their contributions to the citrus industry with the Citrus Achievement Award. In 2026, that honor goes to fifth-generation Florida citrus grower Ned Hancock.
Hancock runs a 500-acre citrus operation with his wife and two sisters, and provides caretaking services for several hundred additional acres of groves.
When Hancock got the call about his award, he thought for a moment that it might be some kind of joke.
“In all honesty, I thought somebody was doing a prank call. Surely they found somebody better,” he says with a laugh. But it was no joke.
“I was at a bit of a loss for words,” he says. “It’s nice to be recognized; I was very surprised and very humbled.”
Starting Small
Hancock’s beginnings in citrus stretch all the way back to when he was 13 years old.
“Back then, my granddad, who had mainly been in the cattle business, had a little 5-acre grove outside of Sebring,” Hancock recounts. “For whatever reason, he wanted me to own it, so he sold it to me.”
His grandfather sold him the grove for $25,000 at about 4% interest, and “come hell or high water,” Hancock had to at least pay the interest each year.
So, Hancock started working his land.
“My grandpa would get me up on Saturday mornings and during the summer and we’d go out there and work, do whatever needed to be done,” he says.
Hancock admits that he often felt jealous of other kids with their Saturdays free, but he’s grateful for the fire the experience ignited in him.
“At first it seemed really neat. But at that age, on Saturday everybody is out at the lake, and I’ve gotta go to work,” he recounts. “But it did show me that this was something I could do for the long term.”
It was then that the path became clear for Hancock, and he went all in on citrus.
“When I went to college as an ag economics major, I took all of the citrus classes that were available,” he says.
Hancock says he was unsure he could make a living out of citrus right out of college. After graduating, he found himself in finance, working for Farm Credit. Yet the whole time, he was trying to figure out how to progress toward a career in citrus.
“For whatever reason, it never occurred to me to work for somebody else,” he says with a laugh. “I always had the goal of figuring out what it takes to have a few acres you work yourself.”
It took him 10 years, but in December of 1989, he finally went out on his own. Despite facing a major freeze that same year, his operations survived and he never looked back.
‘Well-Deserved Recognition’
Since then, Hancock has embedded himself in the industry and its organizations, and his hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“This is a well-deserved recognition for Ned for his decades of service in a wide range of capacities to our Florida citrus industry,” said Ray Royce, Executive Director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association. “His extensive investment in time and leadership has truly made a difference. Ned has also tirelessly advocated for his fellow growers from across our great state through numerous trips to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., not to mention his work with a wide range of thought leaders at the University of Florida and its affiliated entities.”
In the decades he has spent in the industry, Hancock has been witness to the struggles that have plagued it.
“It’s not even the same industry anymore,” he says. “Greening has affected everyone. We’ve gone from 240 million boxes in 2003-2004 to 20 million this year. It’s devastating.”
Hope for the Future
The latest wins in the fight against greening, including the newly approved greening-tolerant CarriCea rootstock, have Hancock feeling hopeful.
“I’m really excited about the new developments,” he says. “It’s a giant first step to where we need to be, and I expect continued improvement. So many developments are starting to compound that I think we’re on the edge of just a major, major rebirth of our industry.”
Hancock sees trials ahead, but he’s confident the industry can rise above them.
“We’re going to continue to see challenges, but our industry has constantly evolved. We just have to be bold enough to try new things,” he says.
On his own farm, Hancock has several of his own “new things” in the works.
“We’ve got a lot of Soilcea trees ordered, I’m really really excited about those,” he says. “Dr. [Jude] Grosser had a mutation of an X739 root stock that we’re planting a bunch of. We’re putting a lot of our efforts into new technologies and new strategies.”
Hancock thinks the key to the industry’s future lies in leveraging and building on the long-established partnerships between growers and communities.
“I think there’s tremendous value provided by our industry. It’s been a gradual decline, and it will be a gradual build back.”