The crop is harvested twice per year, and the plants have a 50- to 80-year production lifespan. Once the bamboo is established, the plantings can produce gross returns of up to $30,000 per acre for the Moso variety and up to $40,000 per acre for the ‘Asper’ variety. Cespedes says there is no need to apply insecticides or fungicides on the crop. Annual costs include $600 per acre for fertilizer and about $500 per acre for irrigation. Traditional financing programs can be utilized as well.Īs part of the grower-partner program, the initial planting is about $20,000 per acre, or a $10,000 per acre investment with a 50% deferral program, until year three. OnlyMoso USA has a grower-partner program to provide certified bamboo plants for planting and to purchase the product, and thru their 10-year guaranteed crop buyback agreement, they will pick up the shoots and trunks on the farm after harvest. In Florida, citrus, vegetable, blueberry, and row crop growers have put in plantings. “There is one planting near Ocala where the grower’s two daughters go out every day just to check and see how much the bamboo has grown. “The plantings we have in Florida are doing really well,” Cespedes says. But, given the demand and good growing climate, he expects acres to ramp up quickly.
He says Florida and other southern tier states are prime locations for planting.Ībout 250 acres have been planted in Florida, through OnlyMoso USA, and 300 acres in other states. The plants also are relatively low maintenance to manage.Īccording to Cespedes, to fill the current import demand for bamboo shoots in the U.S., growers would need to plant 26,000 acres of the crop. But the first market we will pursue is the food industry.”īamboo trunks and its shoots (center) grow fast in Florida’s climate. We have a strong and ambitious marketing plan, through our OnlyMoso Harvest company, to go after multiple markets. In September, we are importing our first 20-foot container of bottled shoots from OnlyMoso Italy to start warming up the food industry, showing what we will be producing in a couple of years from our own domestic harvest with our U.S. Last year, we planted the first tropical bamboo in Central Florida. “So, OnlyMoso USA was incorporated in late 2015, and in May 2016, opened for business and started developing nurseries in the state. was not capitalizing on this sustainable industry,” Cespedes says. China is the largest exporter of bamboo, shipping $32 billion annually. imports $519 million worth of bamboo shoots annually. is the largest importer of bamboo products, accounting for 95% of its current consumption. The OnlyMoso Commercial Division has more than 30 different product offerings that contain bamboo, including teas and a wide array of food items.Īccording to Cespedes, bamboo represents a $60 billion global industry that is growing.
Bamboo is used in more than 1,500 products.
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