Peel a new opportunity

Third-generation Florida orange growers Dean and Janet Mixon seek to squeeze new revenue sources from an unusual source: organic bamboo.

The Mixons, owners of Bradenton-based Mixon Fruit Farms, are working with OnlyMoso, an Italian agricultural company with a U.S. headquarters on the east coast of Florida, in Sunrise. OnlyMoso, named for a type of bamboo, works with farmers and landowners in setting up organic bamboo farms. One of the areas the company targets is Florida, south of the Tampa area, where it says the year-round climate is ideal for its species of bamboo.

Mixon Fruit Farms is the first grove or farm in the Sarasota-Bradenton area to sign a partnership with OnlyMoso. Janet Mixon says OnlyMoso courted her at the right time, after another season of struggle in the orange grove, where citrus greening wrecked a sizable portion of the crop.