Local pineapples will soon be gracing the tables of V.I. restaurants and homes since St. Croix’s Sejah Farm secured funding from the V.I. Department of Agriculture and the USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant money.
Sejah Farm owners Dale and Yvette Browne are partnering with the local Agriculture Department to producing the specialty crop.
The planting of those pineapples was marked on St. Croix Thursday with a field trip to the farm for Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School students.
The farm, off Casper Holstein Drive in Castle Burke—an area Dale Browne refers to as "St. Croix’s bredbasket"—sits neatly plowed and ready for planting of 600 pineapple slips in rich dark soil.
During the field trip Thursday, Agriculture Commissioner Louis E. Petersen and the Brownes spoke briefly.
“All we grow here are specialty crops,” Petersen said, adding that it was important getting funds to advance the local agriculture industry.
He said the John deJongh administration and Delegate Donna M. Christensen lobbied for the funds, which have been used for research, tillers, trees and more.
“In the next 16 months we will provide the sweetest pineapples on the island,” Yvette Browne said. She added with a smile that the pineapple plants multiply quickly, putting off three to five new seedlings a year.
Dale Browne said they have reached a few milestones in business since beginning farming seven years ago on the 12 acres of land they lease from the Department of Agriculture. They recently opened the Sejah Farm market, where they sell healthy produce Monday through Friday.
Noting that the agriculture had been overlooked and unattended to for more than 40 years on St. Croix, The Brownes did extensive research and ultimately determined agriculture could be a viable business.
The students—who were taking part in the Edible Schoolyard Program under Larsen health and physical education teacher Vilma Bigelow—toured the livestock and produce farm and each planted a fast-growing seedling in a cup to take home with them.
Especially excited about the prospect of growing his own pineapple was 8-year-old Larsen student Kobe Knight.
“It is much better to grow vegetables at home,” he said. “The stores put all different chemicals on it.”
