Bhumi Growers: Cultivating Citrus in a Cool Climate

A New Jersey citrus farm provides hard-to-find fruits and proof that passion for a product is enough to grow on.

By Michael Brown
Updated on July 17, 2021
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Bhumi Growers

Farming is about passion. The love of growing things and sharing them with others keeps us farmers going despite the challenges. One of the trials that many small-scale growers face is entry into the market, especially when competing with large, established farms already selling common items. For some farmers, growing a niche crop or a crop that’s not grown locally can put their farm on the map. In New Jersey, Vivek and Seema Malik, owners of Bhumi Growers, turned their passion for a hard-to-find fruit into a successful citrus farm located states away from typical citrus territory.

In Pursuit of ‘Yuzu’

Vivek and Seema spent years working in New York City before starting Bhumi Growers. (“Bhumi” means “Mother Earth” in Hindi.) “We are both immigrants to the country,” Vivek says. “During our first few years working in New York City, we found ourselves frequent visitors to Nobu, a well-known Japanese restaurant, where we especially loved their signature dish of hamachi with jalapeño and ‘Yuzu’ soy.”

After learning that ‘Yuzu’ is a citrus fruit, Vivek and Seema began looking for locally available ‘Yuzu’ to use in their home cooking. After a lengthy search, they found a Japanese grocery in New Jersey that carried the fruit, though only for a short period of time. Unfortunately, the seasonal supply left Vivek and Seema at the mercy of outside suppliers. So, when they finished their limited ‘Yuzu’ supply, they planted some of the seeds to see what would happen. Unbeknownst to them, those ‘Yuzu’ seeds sprouted a whole new business.

Patience Pays Off

When they planted the seeds, Vivek and Seema didn’t know that a citrus tree can take more than 10 years to mature and produce fruit. While waiting, they nurtured the saplings — keeping them in pots­ — and learned as much as they could about caring for container-grown citrus.

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