Ripe oranges hang on the trees in the Spanish city of Seville, January 27, 2011.
The juicy story of Florida's orange trade
02:36 - Source: CNN

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Florida CNN  — 

When you think of Florida, you naturally think of oranges.

What you may not know is that a whopping 95% of its oranges are squeezed for juice, and a quarter of those are exported to places like Japan, South Korea and Canada.

In fact, after Brazil, the “Sunshine State” is the second-largest producer of orange juice in the world.

Among Florida’s many producers is the Hunt Brothers company, which started out in 1922, when Florida farmer Deeley Hunt planted the seed that would lead to 2,000 acres of citrus.

Today, it is one of the largest orange shippers in the state, squeezing out nearly 2 million cartons per year. And Hunt Brothers is now run by the Hunt cousins – proof that the orange doesn’t fall far from the tree.

These days, some 10% of its produce goes overseas, to Asia in particular.

“It goes by container,” says Frank Hunt III, president of the cooperative. “It takes quite a while to get there … so we’re picking the fruit and trying to stay as close behind the harvest as we can to keep the fruit fresh – picking one day, packing the next day, getting it under refrigeration as soon as we can.”

He adds: It’s nice to think about your fruit grown here in Lake Wales, Florida, and someone’s eating it in Japan.”

Watch the video above to find out more.