Who we are

Grower Profiles – Christian Spinosa

Can you give some background information on the company you work for?

Dudley Putnam Inc. is our family company, and we’ve been a caretaking company for 70+ years. All the citrus we caretake is all right here in Polk County.

What made you choose to go into citrus?

I am the 5th generation citrus producer for my family. To say that it’s in my blood would be an understatement. I’ve been doing it my entire life, and before they had child labor laws, I was out here checking water jets and binding trees. When I was out of state for college I worked on a peach farm for several summers, but I always knew I was going to get into citrus.

What is your educational background?

I am the 5th generation citrus producer for my family. To say that it’s in my blood would be an understatement. I’ve been doing it my entire life, and before they had child labor laws, I was out here checking water jets and binding trees. When I was out of state for college I worked on a peach farm for several summers, but I always knew I was going to get into citrus.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I wish I could tell you what that looked like. I might come out here any given day and think were going to run pumps today to get some water out and I may get to my 3rd of 4th pump and have a well broke in or a major leak. In a way that’s the fun part of this industry, everyday is something new or exciting and that makes us very diverse in this industry. Everyday is something different, and I love that.

What do you think the industry will look like in the next five years?

That is the million-dollar question. I don’t know what the answer to that is. I think in the next three years we’ll have a better understanding of what the citrus industry will look like going forward. Consumption and orange juice have definitely been positives and our ability to move orange juice has been good the last two years. Obviously, production is down in Florida but only time will tell what that will look like going forward.

Tell us about your family.

I am happily married to my wife Sarah who I met in college. We’ve been married for over 6 years now. We have a son James who is almost 2 years old now. We live here in Bartow we’re very blessed to be surrounded by our families. My brother lives in town, and we go visit my wife’s family up in South Carolina. We’re all kind of spread out around the south-east.