AGRICULTURE
Ecotone owners Jerry and Tamara Renick talk every day about their vision for their farm
and community. “We love what we do,” says Jerry.
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vestment and has since bought an adjoining plot, but
his business was working with developers.
Then the recession hit. With reduced demand,
Jerry wanted something more, something different.
He and Tamara took baby steps that led to their first
hydroponic lettuce crop. They took classes in aquaculture
at Indian River State College’s Harbor Branch site.
Jerry worked on his master’s degree with University of
Florida; his final project was a plan for a hydroponics
lettuce farm.
Finding buyers for their first crop was not difficult.
“I enjoy cold calling and the product sells itself visually,”
Tamara says. “We offer same-day harvest. There’s
no comparison to the lettuce bought from out of state.”
By law, lettuce coming from another state is dipped
in chlorine and may sit on a truck for weeks before it
shows up in a restaurant or grocery store. Presented
with Ecotone’s lettuce, clients were quickly persuaded.
It didn’t take long for Cheney Brothers, a national
food distribution company, to notice. But the expansion
was premature.
“They needed more product than we could deliver
and wanted us to buy from other sellers and repackage,”
Jerry says. Deliveries ate into valuable time away
from the farm. “We decided to take a step back and
focus on the local market and diversity.”
According to Tamara, “I’m the muscle and he’s the
brains.” Jerry is an environmental scientist with a master’s
degree in environmental horticulture and a certified
arborist. Jerry grew up in Maryland, and his inter- >>
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