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Limoneira - Climbing the Mountain
For several years Limoneira farming operations
personnel, in partnership with Associates Insectary have trekked to the top of
South Mountain in Santa Paula to freshen the large SP. These large white
letters can be seen for miles and welcome those traveling east to our valley
from the ocean. There are those in our community who believe the SP
stands for Special People. We couldn't agree more. The entrepreneurial spirit
was alive and thriving in the late nineteenth century when "Go West,
young man, and grow up with the country," the famous clarion call
of adventure and opportunity, could be read in the day's leading newspapers. (Horace Greeley is often credited with this
famous quote which was originally written by John B. L. Soule.) Nathan Blanchard, a
native of Maine, and the founder of both Santa Paula and Limoneira, answered
this call. The rest, as they say, is history. This month we want to pay tribute to our farming
teams. Agriculture and farming are not
for the faint of heart. Not only do the
standard challenges of running a business exist, Mother Nature can make life
very interesting. In 2006, Limoneira's
avocado crop was 18 million pounds. A severe frost occurred in 2007 and,
as a result, our avocado crop production dropped dramatically to 4 million
pounds. The effects were still being
felt in 2008 with production once more achieving only 4 million pounds. In 2009, a very different weather pattern
happened, and extremely hot weather early in the growing season impacted the
crop, reducing production to 2 million pounds. This year we are happy to report that, as a result
of very promising weather conditions, Limoneira's avocado crop is expected to
be 20 million pounds. We see a bright future for avocados, and we
continue to be extremely proud of our go-to-market partner Calavo, one of the
largest avocado marketers in the world and the largest marketer in the nation. U.S. per capita consumption of avocados
continues to grow for a number of reasons. There is an increasing awareness of healthier
foods. Avocados are a good source of beneficial
monounsaturated fat. A medium sized
avocado contains approximately 15% of the FDA's recommended daily amount of monounsaturated fat. In addition, avocados
have 60% more potassium than bananas. Vitamins
in avocados include A, B-complex, C, and E, as well as phosphorus and
magnesium. They're also a great source of antioxidants. U.S. demographic patterns also continue to change
resulting in the growth of Mexican foods and restaurants. U.S. per-capita consumption
of avocados is also contributing to growing avocado demand. In 1997,
avocado pounds per capita consumed in the U.S. were 1.7 lbs. and are now
3.0 lbs. Five years ago the U.S. consumed 650 million pounds of avocados. In
2010, we estimate U.S. consumption to be 1.5 billion lbs. If U.S. consumption
grows to 5 lbs. per capita there aren't enough avocados produced in the world
(currently) to meet this demand.
Best Regards, The Limoneira Team |
Limoneira's crops: avocados, citrus, and new
communities
We
were very happy to read Marlize van Romburgh's article, in the June 28th
issue of the Pacific Coast Business Times, which we provide here. "Santa
Paula-based Limoneira Co. has come a long way since its early days as a
family-owned lemon grower. Today, it's traded on Wall Street and enjoys tens of
millions of dollars in sales each year. And it's not just a citrus business -
Limoneira is now one of the largest players in the tri-county real estate
scene, with projects from Paso Robles to Santa Paula. In its most recent earnings report, the firm listed $64.5million in real estate development assets - almost
40 percent of its total assets. Roughly 150 miles north in SLO County wine
country, Limoneira is actively promoting its 720-acre Windfall Farms. The
Company recently created a "founder-member program" which gives investors the
opportunity to earn interest and real property in exchange for a cash
investment. Financiers can put either $1 million or $500,000, money that will
earn 10 percent interest and be paid back in five years. At the end of that
period, million-dollar investors will also receive a 10-acre parcel of prime
Paso Robles land as a bonus. Those who put in $500,000 will have the opportunity
to buy acreage at half price. So if you're interested in a 10-acre sprawl on
which to raise kids, wine grapes, horses or all three, and want to make your
money work for you in the meantime, get in touch with the guys at Limoneira". |
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Here is a fun, simple and refreshing summer recipe that chef Jason Collis from Jonathan's does out here at the ranch.
Avocado Mint Chocolate Chip Milk Shake
by: Chef Jason Collis
(recipe serves one)
Ingredients:
1 medium avocado
1/4 cup condensed milk
1 large scoops of natural mint chocolate chip ice
cream
1-2 tablespoon sugar (to taste)
1 cup ice
Directions:
Put everything in a blender and process until
consistency is smooth.You might need to add milk to help the blending
process. Adjust sugar to taste.
Jason J. Collis www.jstapas.com www.jonathansatpeiranos.com 204 E.Main Street Ventura CA 93001 ph.805-648-4853 fx.805-648-4953
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Limoneira Kids Master Chef Kits
Hundreds
of students visit Limoneria Ranch each year. In an earlier edition of our newsletter we
discussed our great collaboration with the Ventura County Resource Conservation
District. Students learn about sustainable
agriculture, visit our demonstration, and solar, orchards, and our visitor's
center. They are taught about the parts
of lemon and avocado trees, mulching, beneficial insects, solar energy and
nutrition. They learn that healthy eating can be fun. To promote enjoyable good nutritional habits,
we've developed our Boys and Girls Master Chef Kits complete with chef hats,
aprons, utensils, kid's recipes, and avocados and lemons. These will be sold on the Limoneira Lifestyles
section at www.limoneira.com and soon at select
retailers in Ventura County. |
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