Welcome to the IOC website! The Inland Orange Conservancy is a non-profit 501c3 project focusing on citrus in the Inland Empire. Our three core objectives are the following:
1. SAVE THE GROVES!
Most of our groves will have disappeared by the end of this decade. Now is the time to choose which ones to save before it is too late. IOC makes groves sustainable by connecting local growers to local consumers in its "Share of the Crop" program.
2. SPREAD THE WORD!
Our Inland history and heritage are founded on the orange! IOC does outreach to educate our community on our citrus heritage and our citrus present thru programs, tastings, grove walks, and school activities.
3. FEED THE HUNGRY!
Commercial agriculture is incredibly wasteful. In search of "Big & Beautiful" huge volumes of delicious food are left to rot. IOC gleans this fruit and gets it to the Inland Empire needy, via its "Thanks a Ton" gleaning program.
How are we doing in 2006? More than 850 Inland Empire families joined as IOC Citrus Supporters for the Spring '06 Navel Orange season. We helped support 12 local growers by paying them 18 times more than commercial packinghouses would have. We also donated 39 TONS of citrus to our local homeless and needy. We've expanded from two seasons to three (our Fall '06 season kicks off September 4, so Join us now and don't miss a single week of juicy-sweet Valencias!
In 2005, our first year, we had 1200 families from Highland, Yucaipa, Redlands, Loma Linda, San Bernardino, and Grand Terrace join as IOC citrus supporters. We ate 167 tons of citrus! We helped support 24 local growers. We donated 49 TONS of citrus to our local homeless and needy, and became Inland Harvest's largest donor. Not bad for our first year!
We're on track with our goals: In addition to expanding from two seasons to three, we have already added Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, and Riverside to "Share of the Crop" with pick-up spots in each of these cities, and more being added all the time! We are on track to donate 100 tons of citrus to our local needy through Inland Harvest in 2006. Join us and help us! Enjoy the taste of great local citrus while preserving our heritage and our open space at the same time.