A. Duda & Sons refers to various agricultural and real estate developments, with ranches in

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The company grows vegetables, citrus, sugarcane, and other crops, and raises cattle. It is best known as one of the top growers of celery in the United States. It markets produce using the ''Dandy'' label. It has significant land holdings in Florida, California and Texas. It has developed some of this land for residential and commercial use. The Viera Company subsidiary oversees the development and management of

Viera, Florida Viera (pronounced /vjɛrə/) is an affluent, master-planned community located in the central coastal region of Brevard County, Florida. It is part of an unincorporated section adjacent to the Melbourne, Florida area. For census purposes, it is divi ...

, a planned community in

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county seat is located in Ti ...

, which had 16,000 residents in 2007.

Operations

Operations include vegetable and melon farming; orange groves; other citrus Groves; Nursery and Tree Production; Sugarcane Farming; Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming; Commercial and Institutional Building Construction; Land Subdivision; Sugar Manufacturing; Sugarcane Mills; Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Merchandising Wholesalers.

History

Andrew Duda immigrated to United States from

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. He started the ranch in the mid-1920s with . With

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

as the cash crop, Duda had around in the 1940s. The family diversified into

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...

ranching at their Cocoa Ranch, near

Cocoa, Florida Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida, Brevard County, Florida. The population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–Titusville, Florida, Titusvil ...

. By the 1970s, it had 20,000 cattle. The business was incorporated in 1953. The company revenues were $200 million in the 1980s. Ranch holdings in Central Florida had risen to .

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Florida Brevard County, Florida Landmarks in Florida Ranches in Florida