Florida Crystals in Florida: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Florida Crystals is a family-owned, vertically integrated sugarcane grower and miller in Palm Beach County, started by the Fanjul family in Florida in 1960. The company says it farms 194,500 acres in Florida, runs the Okeelanta and Osceola mills, and grows and mills certified organic sugar entirely in the United States.
| Location | Palm Beach County, Florida; mills at South Bay (Okeelanta) and Pahokee (Osceola) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1960 in Florida, as Osceola Farms Co. and New Hope Sugar Company; Fanjul family sugar roots go back to the 1850s |
| Sectors | Sugarcane; rice rotation; milling and refining; organic and specialty sugar; renewable energy |
| Scale | 194,500 acres of Florida farmland, per the company website |
| Why it is notable | Largest Regenerative Organic Certified farm in the U.S., per the company; the only producer of certified organic sugar grown and milled in the U.S., per the company |
| Ownership | Fanjul family; family-owned |
| Official website | Florida Crystals official site: our story |
History of Florida Crystals
The Fanjul family's sugar roots go back more than 150 years, and the company says the family's cane story dates to 1850 in Cuba. In Florida the family founded the business in 1960 as Osceola Farms Co. and New Hope Sugar Company, buying 4,000 acres in Palm Beach County and several Louisiana sugar mills. Those mills were dismantled, barged to Florida and rebuilt in Pahokee as the Osceola mill. The first harvest covered 4,000 acres and yielded 10,000 tons of raw sugar.
Over the following decades the business grew into farming and milling at a very large scale. A 2010 company release put its gross Florida acreage at 187,000 acres, mostly cane with rice and corn as rotation crops, and nearly 2,000 employees in Palm Beach County. The company planted the first organic sugarcane in the U.S. in 1995 and later pursued Regenerative Organic Certification for its farmland. A Florida sugar trade profile notes that the Fanjul company and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida are equal co-owners of American Sugar Refining, the Domino Foods parent.
What Florida Crystals Grows and Raises
Florida Crystals owns both the farming and the milling, and its farms and mill sit within a 25-mile radius so cane is milled within 24 hours of harvest. The company describes crop rotation, including rice in the cane rotation, laser-leveled fields, and precision tools such as satellites, drones and GPS-guided tractors to conserve water and nutrients. It says it uses about 2,500 barn owls for pest control and runs a honeybee project for biodiversity.
The mills produce raw and specialty sugars, and the company lists organic raw cane sugar, organic light brown sugar, organic powdered sugar and raw turbinado. The ASR Group history adds that a Florida biomass power plant burns sugarcane fiber, called bagasse, to power sugar operations and supply renewable electricity to the municipal grid.
How Florida Crystals Makes Money
Specialty and organic sugar
Florida Crystals sells organic and specialty sugars at retail, including through Walmart and an online store, and says all of its sugars are vegan, non-GMO Project verified and kosher. Certified organic and regenerative claims support a differentiated product in a commodity crop.
Raw sugar, refining and foodservice
The business also sells raw and refined sugar through its wider group, with refined sugar sold under brands including Domino and C&H, and serves foodservice customers through a separate professional site.
Rice and renewable energy
Rice grown in rotation is milled in Florida, and the biomass power plant that burns cane fiber supplies electricity to the grid. Both turn by-products and rotation crops into additional income lines.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Florida Crystals
The first lesson is vertical integration: owning farms and mills close together shortens the time between harvest and milling and gives control over quality, costs and product mix. The company's 25-mile radius and 24-hour milling claim is a concrete example.
The second is differentiating a commodity. Organic and regenerative certification give a cane producer a branded retail story. Third, using every part of the crop, from rice rotation to bagasse power, turns agronomy and waste streams into revenue and resilience.
A sugar company that counts roughly 2,500 barn owls among its pest-control staff probably has the most patient night shift in Florida agriculture. After the harvest lights go down, farm.FM delivers farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes, all sweetened without a single owl overtime request.
Readers who want the full experience can pair the jokes with Tractor Tunes, the country music for farmers that farm.FM, the nation's first satirical farm site, plays between stories. This author page is a fine starting point.
How to Contact Florida Crystals
Website: https://www.floridacrystals.com/our-story
No street address, phone or email appeared on the pages reviewed, so none is listed. The site provides a contact page and store locator. Checked November 2026.
Florida Crystals Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Florida Crystals: our story - Official company page
- ASR Group: our history - Corporate history of the Fanjul sugar business
- Farm Progress: fifty years of Florida sugar cane - Trade coverage of the state sugar industry
- USDA NASS Census of Agriculture - National and Florida farm statistics
- USDA NASS Quick Stats - Searchable crop and production data
Florida Crystals FAQ
Where does Florida Crystals farm?
In Palm Beach County, Florida, with mills at South Bay and Pahokee.
How many acres does it farm?
The company website says 194,500 acres in Florida.
When did the family start in Florida?
The Fanjul family started the Florida business in 1960.
What products does it sell?
Organic and specialty sugars, raw and refined sugar through its group, rice and renewable power.
Florida Crystals shows how a large family sugar company ties farming, milling and sustainability claims into one business. Read the Florida farms guide for the state picture and the other operations profiled with Florida Crystals.