History

Island Grove Ag Products originated in 1995 as a merger between two existing blueberry farms in north central Florida. The focus at that time was to produce quality blueberry plants and increase production in our own fields.

In cooperation with the University of Florida breeding program, on site research enabled us to increase production with experimental and newly released varieties that could be tested under realistic growing conditions.

The farm quickly expanded to 100 acres of production in the Island Grove area and the Nursery division grew accordingly to handle the blueberry expansion, not only in Florida but in the Southeastern United States. With the onset of the new low chill varieties, IGAP also planted producing fields in Arcadia, Florida which now total 160 acres. Today, after the latest expansion in Island Grove, IGAP currently has 310 acres of producing fields, along with 2 separate state-of-the-art packing facilities utilizing the highest technological advances in blueberry packing and shipping.

In 2004, the IGAP Nursery Division developed a Florida native plant business targeting the ornamental, restoration, and mitigation needs in Florida. Our dedicated staff has decades of nursery education & experience ensuring quality plants and accurate advice.

Presently the IGAP family consists of over 35 full-time employees, with that number growing to several hundred during harvest.

Mission Statement

Island Grove Ag Products is an integrity driven sustainable agriculture/nursery operation whose primary focus is safety for its workers, the environment, and quality in its products.
 
To that end, we pledge to ourselves, our fellow employees, our customers and consumers, to seek out, develop and follow the best cultural and management practices possible to ensure quality and safety in all areas of our operation.

Community Involvement

Values lead to involvement.  The image of our company has a direct correlation to the image of our individual employees.  With that, we wish that our employees possess the following core values to uphold the standing of our company:  Honest, Integrity, Motivation, Perseverance, Innovation, Progressive Thinking, Mutual Respect and Character.

With the possession of these values, Island Grove Ag Products incorporates them not only into our organization, but also into the community and environment we live in.  Our company gives back to the community and the environment in the following ways.

A portion of our property is targeted for conservation to be held and preserved in its natural state.  We are also expanding a portion of our production acreage into certified organic production, with our first planned certified crop to be in the year 2010.  With 50 acres, we will have the largest organic blueberry farm in the state.

Our closest community is Island Grove. Each year we sponsor the Annual Spring Blueberry Festival as a fund raiser for the local Volunteer Fire Department.  We contribute t-shirts, blueberries and blueberry plants to help support the needs of this small crossroads community.

IGAP also participates in community functions in Hawthorne, our closest town.  Most notably is the clean-up and recovery of the City Park at Lake Johnson in which we contributed labor, equipment and plant material for this clean-up and enhancement project.  At the local high school, we donated and built a fruit orchard at the agricultural department hoping to inspire young adults to learn more about agriculture and fruit production.  The orchard contains blueberries, blackberries, grapes, pears, peaches, plums and persimmons.

We also proudly continue as a sponsor of the Pediatric Cancer Foundation located in Tampa Florida.