 Welcome! I am honored that you are taking the time to visit the Limoneira Company through this dynamic website. During your visit I hope you will sense the extreme pride felt by me and everyone on the Limoneira team for our company's past, present and future. It is also my hope that you will gain an appreciation for the immense value of the Limoneira Company; its land, its employees, its extreme beauty, and the many opportunities we are seizing to utilize its unique and diverse assets. Our company's mission is to preserve and promote our tradition, heritage and legacy in agriculture, community development and land stewardship to maximize value for our shareholders. Our culture is to work hard, play hard and take advantage of being a part of this truly unique enterprise. Most importantly we are all striving to have fun doing what we do. I hope you enjoy your visit to this website and, eventually, to our ranch headquarters in Santa Paula.
The Limoneira story is one filled with pioneers, prosperity, a few bumpy roads, entrepreneurs and lots of dynamic change. It all began in 1893 when two men, Wallace Hardison, founder of the Union Oil Company, and Nathan W. Blanchard, a pioneering industrialist from Pennsylvania, pooled $1 million in capital to develop the first large scale citrus production in the United States. Over the years the company's focus has been on agriculture, real estate, community development and investments. Agriculturally the company has dynamically produced lemons, oranges, avocados, apricots, walnuts, sugar beats, celery, cabbage, lima beans, peppers, flowers, strawberries, minneolas, cara cara navels, Satsuma mandarin oranges, pummelos, cherries, pistachios, almonds, peaches, pluots, plums and olives. While what the company has produced agriculturally has changed over time—driven by markets and consumer preferences around the world —we have successfully expanded our land holdings while meeting these changing needs. We are proud of our agricultural history, heritage and legacy and look forward to advancing our agricultural operations for the next 100 years.
Today the company owns and operates over 7,000 acres of rich agricultural properties throughout California: 4,000 acres in Ventura County, 500 acres in Santa Barbara County, 700 acres in San Luis Obispo County and the balance in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to our core agribusiness operations, we have made significant efforts to diversify our activities to include less financially volatile real estate investments in farm worker housing (synergistic with our agricultural operations), office buildings and commercial properties. We currently have several large real estate development projects underway—East Area 1 & 2 in Santa Paula, California, Limco Del Mar in Ventura, California and Windfall Farms in Creston, California—each undergoing rigorous entitlement work. Over the years we have also made strategic investments in water rights, mineral rights, proprietary agricultural patents, residential real estate projects, organic recycling operations and fruit marketing companies to compliment our production (we are currently the 2nd largest shareholder of Calavo Growers, Inc. and a significant stakeholder in Sunkist Growers, Inc. and Fruit Growers Supply, Inc.). These investments have been made not only to advance Limoneira's mission but also to take advantage of the immense value of our company for the benefit of our customers, community and, ultimately, our shareholders.
Limoneira today serves as a bellwether for Ventura County and the City of Santa Paula as we manage through the complexities of urban growth requirements, agricultural preservation issues, globalization, environmental sensitivities and water supply issues together. We are proud of our local, regional, national and global efforts in each of these areas and continue to strive to build consensus and seek sensible solutions for each.
Whether your visit today is to learn of the many activities offered by our agri-tourism team (tours, dinners, hot air balloon rides, etc.), find out about our large scale agricultural production or to learn about our community development activities I hope you find your time with us enjoyable. If there is anything any of us can do to make your visit more informative please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Harold S. Edwards
President & CEO
|
|
