EXPERIMENTING WITH CITRUS
Limes and Lemons By Alex Lucas, Communications Coordinator
RALPH CHAMBERLAIN is the general manager of Edentown Company, a 2,560-acre citrus farm in Charlotte County. Although owned by an outside stakeholder, Chamberlain takes responsibility for the farm as if it is his own.
Mature limes are ready for harvesting.
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FLORIDAGRICULTURE | JUNE 2019
“My family grew up on this farm, my son learned how to drive out here and it’s what made him want to pursue a career in agriculture,” said Chamberlain. He noted that after decades in agriculture, he still continues to be excited by the prospect of having success growing things on the farm and is willing to try to grow crops that are not widely grown in the state. “If someone tells me something can’t be grown here, I want to prove them wrong,” he said. Chamberlain praises the degree of freedom that he has been given to experiment on the farm. Previously he has experimented with crops such as pomegranates and plums with little success. However, he
found a place growing peaches, which were sold in various stores across the southern half of the state. Like many farmers and ranchers in Florida, Edentown Co. and Chamberlain took a big blow from both disease and poor weather conditions in the last few years. Multiple disasters struck the farm, including citrus canker and then Hurricane Irma, which wiped out the peaches, and later, huanglongbing (also known as HLB or citrus greening disease). These disasters persuaded him to expand the citrus operation to include both limes and lemons. “Limes and lemons are traditionally grown in south Florida, near Miami, because of their sensitivity to the cold. There are a lot of opportunities for growing lemons and limes
