Ellington

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — Although several years away, a new venture starting in Lincoln County could mean jobs and agri-tourism opportunities for the area and state.

Jason McDonald, managing partner of FiLoLi Farms of Brookhaven, is about to embark on a seven-year commitment to plant and grow tea plants and produce tea.

McDonald was inspired to get into tea production by a visit to Charleston, S.C., where he saw the only tea farm in the United States currently.

The vast majority of tea, which comes from the Chinese camellia, is grown in South America and Asia. However, those plants already exist in Southwest Mississippi.

After doing some more research, McDonald is planning to raise tea plants on his property in southeastern Lincoln County and then package the product in Brookhaven.

He also plans to get involved in agri-tourism, with his tea farm bringing people into the area.

"It would be something that could be sustainable for the state aside from timber," said McDonald. "Mississippi and tea sounds like a great partnership."

But tea has never been cultivated in this part of the United States, and McDonald agrees that it will start off as an experiment.

"It's something we're definitely going to do," he said. "It's a work of mystery as we're aren't sure how it will go in Mississippi."

Southwest Mississippi has the ideal climate for tea plant production, which is subtropical to tropical with at least 50 inches of rain per year.

To get from the starting blocks to production of tea will take McDonald seven years, but Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith said that won't be a problem.

"Time passes so fast. I can see us back here looking at the plants," said Hyde-Smith while visiting McDonald's property recently.

Hyde-Smith said the area is good for tea production. Interstate 55 and U.S. Highway 84 make for an easy trip from any direction, she said.

"Being a close drive to New Orleans establishes a market," she said. "We're not too far away. Consumers are more likely to pick a domestic product when they have a choice."

The plan is to start with 60,000 plants on 10 acres, with small and large leaf varieties. This will be a trial group of plants to see how they grow in Southwest Mississippi and if any natural predators or threats exist to them.

McDonald is currently in the timber and cattle business, but he believes tea plants have a shot in Lincoln County and Mississippi.

"Tea plants are very resilient plants," said McDonald. "We don't know of any natural predators they have around here. You can run them over with a bushhog and they'll just grow back."

McDonald said tea plants would begin coming into Lincoln County in early 2014, with the first harvest of tea leaves not until 2017, as the plants take three to five years to reach maturity.

The project will take numerous workers, thus providing for job opportunities for local citizens, McDonald said.

"Planting 600 plants will take quite a few people," he said. "I expect between 30-40 employees by early 2014, with agri-tourism providing for more."