Mixon Fruit Farms planning to sell remaining land - WWSB

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BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - Mixon Fruit Farms is planning on selling their remaining 39 acres of land after having ongoing staffing issues and lost product from Hurricane Ian. Janet Mixon, Co-Owner of Mixon Fruit Farms, said some of their farms in Central Florida reported losing more than half of their fruits. Mixon said problems just didn’t start there.

“It’s been tough for several years and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is actually the beginning of our issues,” said Mixon. “They brought in all these diseases and we had trees here that were planted in the 1800s... and you start bringing in these diseases from other countries and it just kind of wipes us out.”

Mixon, and her husband Dean, started adding other areas to the farm after buying out the rest of the family in 2006.

“We had prayed about what to do and we felt like we were supposed to do something about making memories,” said Mixon. “Using this property that we had left to be something that people would talk about, be something people would remember and have a great memory of.”

The Mixon’s added the wedding area and after having grandchildren added the playground. Mixon said they book 101 weddings in 2021 and host a good amount of birthday parties and events.

“We tried doing all types of things but it just, when you can’t get staffing, we have three employees that turned eighty this year,” said Mixon.

The Mixon’s are in their 70′s and Mixon said they don’t have kids that want to take over the business.

“We needed to start thinking about what we were going to do,” said Mixon.

While Bradenton wasn’t hit hard by Ian, the area where the Mixon’s get their fruit was. Mixon said some of their farms are reporting losses of 50 percent while some farms reporting larger numbers.

“It’s going to be really difficult getting fruit this year and staffing is the other thing,” said Mixon. “It’s as hard to get somebody who wants to work and our wedding department is needing help because they are busy.”

When the offers started coming in, Mixon said it was time to start looking at them.

“There are some that are coming in that are definitely worth looking at but it’s going to be very hard for my husband and I to leave it,” said Mixon. “I love coming in, I love talking to all the people and I hear stories every single day about how people that came when they were little are now bringing their children.”

Mixon said those are the memories she loves being a part of and knows its going to be a sad day when all of that is over.

“We haven’t had an offer where somebody actually wants to take over the business,” said Mixon. “It’s the land.”

Even with the possibility of selling the land, Mixon said the family still wants to be a part of the community as they have been for years.

“Our big thing is being a part of this community and doing things to help the people in our community and we don’t plan on quitting with that,” said Mixon. “We still want to be a part of what makes Manatee County great.”

The farm is not going anywhere until after 2023 and events are still planned for the community through the month of November.

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