Sunkist® stories, articles & musings

First generation Sunkist grower nurturing 100 acres of navels, mandarins, Valencias, and blood oranges in California’s Central Valley.

If you ask Romero Villicana where his story really starts, he won’t point to acreage or yields. He’ll point to a single tree.

In 1992, years after arriving in the United States from Central Mexico, Romero planted his first orange tree—more a promise than a plan. He’d come to the Central Valley in 1978 as a kid, surrounded by relatives who worked the land. A local citrus grower took him under his wing and taught him everything: how to read a leaf, listen to water, graft a bud, catch a pest problem before it spreads. The more he learned, the more he knew he wanted a grove of his own.

That first tree grew into a life.

Today, Romero is a first generation Sunkist grower with about 100 acres of citrus: Navel oranges, Mandarin oranges, Valencia oranges, and two kinds of blood oranges—Moro and Sanguinelli. Walk his ranch in the spring and you’ll catch the soft perfume of bloom drifting over glossy leaves; in winter, the rows glow with color.

From Central Mexico to the Central Valley

Farming runs in Romero’s family. His parents were farmers in Mexico, and those instincts—patience, observation, care—came with him across the border. In the groves, he found a second home: the rhythm of watering, pruning, grafting; the quiet satisfaction of tending something that gives back.

“I fell in love with everything about citrus,” he says. “The color, the blossoms, the aroma. Being outdoors all day. That’s what got me into it—and that’s what I still love today.”

The Next Generation at His Side

Romero has three daughters—13, 8, and 4—who already know the rows by heart. They tag along to check water lines, help scan for pests, and learn the difference between healthy green and a leaf that needs attention. He doesn’t push them toward farming; he lets the grove do the inviting. When he sees how much they enjoy it, it’s hard not to imagine at least one of them taking the reins someday.

Why Sunkist

For Romero, joining Sunkist wasn’t about prestige; it was about belonging. The coop lets him focus on what he loves—growing—while connecting the fruit he’s proud of to families far beyond the ranch. It’s a system built for growers like him, where quality and care matter and the Sunkist name signals trust.

A Life Built Tree by Tree

Romero’s story isn’t flashy. It’s hands in the soil, boots in the rows, early mornings and cool evenings. It’s a first tree planted with courage, then another, then a hundred acres’ worth. It’s a father teaching his daughters how to listen for water, how to spot a problem early, how to love a tree enough to do the hard work.

The grove is proof of what steady care can grow—a family, a future, a legacy with deep roots and bright fruit.