http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ap/ap/florida/pomegranates-could-become-floridas-newest-crop/nSMTX/ By KEVIN BOUFFARD
The Associated Press
LAKE ALFRED, Fla. —
After a 35-year career in citrus, the state's signature agricultural commodity, Bill Castle would like to help Florida growers diversify.
Castle, emeritus professor of horticulture at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, chose pomegranates, one of the world's oldest fruits, as a candidate for Florida's next commercial crop.
"There are four fruits of antiquity — dates, figs, olives and pomegranates," he said. "We don't have a commercial pomegranate industry in Florida yet. What we're trying to do is determine the possibility to have a commercial industry."
The early buzz is encouraging, said Castle, a founding member of the Florida Pomegranate Association. He spoke to The Ledger on Friday, one week after 120 people showed up at the Lake Alfred center for the association's first meeting.
Castle has passed out about 7,500 pomegranate plants to more than 60 people and companies, most of them interested in developing a commercial enterprise, he said.
His research, which began in 2008, has tested 96 different kinds of pomegranates, or "selections" growing on 400 acres in Lake Alfred and a research farm near Winter Garden.
Castle has identified four pomegranate selections that appear to grow well in Florida, producing 40 to 60 fruit each year, he said. That compares well to pomegranate plants that grow in their native environments in the Middle East and southern Asia.
"There's a lot of interest right now, and I think we'll see a lot of planting next year," said Cindy Weinstein, a Zolfo Springs pomegranate grower.
Her business, Green Sea Farms, has five acres of pomegranate plants plus a pomegranate nursery with about 6,000 young plants over 75 selections, she said.
Weinstein estimated fewer than 100 commercial pomegranate acres currently in Florida.
Most commercial operators are growing on one- and two-acre test plots, Castle said, but larger operations are coming.
"There's quite a bit of enthusiasm right now," he said. "There's going to be people planting 10 to 20 acres next year."
Emory McTeer, who is growing citrus and blueberries on about 64 acres near Haines City, also got 180 pomegranate plants from Castle since 2009 and is growing them on a single acre.
"There is definitely potential and demand for the fruit," McTeer said. "The supermarkets tell us, 'If you have any local pomegranates, we'll take all you can give us.'"
Even if pomegranates become a commercial crop in Florida, however, it's likely to remain a small industry for the foreseeable future, Castle and McTeer agreed.
"We're not dismissing the citrus industry and saying this is going to replace the citrus industry," Castle said. "In my view, the best potential is on a small-farm enterprise, perhaps five to 20 acres. Twenty acres would be a big pomegranate enterprise."
Copyright The Associated Press
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