Alfred (1871-1952) and Amanda Elfrida Erickson (1877-1954) emigrated from Gutenburg, Sweden, to Minnesota in 1891. They homesteaded in 1911 on the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee with their four children. Unable to adequately support his family as a carpenter, Alfred Erickson started farming in 1923, and everyone pitched in. Although the hurricane of 1928 removed its roof, the original 1911 house remains in the family nearly a century later.
Floyd Arthur Erickson (1911-2005), the youngest of Alfred and Elfrida’s children, graduated from the University of Florida in 1933 with an agricultural degree. He and his brother William Emil Erickson (1904-1970) began farming vegetables to ship north. Floyd was intrigued by tropical fruits and in 1961 decided to seek his niche in specialty crops; he planted a grove of mango and avocado trees.
Floyd’s youngest son, Dale Eric Erickson (1950- ), took over the mango production in 1974 and added other tropical fruits and vegetables. Dale’s daughters, Krista and Kimberly, continued the tradition of working in the family business. In 2000, Krista Erickson (1980- ) began managing daily operations; her son, Brendan Erickson (1999- ), shows a promising interest in everything that grows. After several years consulting on marketing from afar, Kimberly Erickson (1976- ) returned to the farm in 2007 to assume a more active role.
With one of the few mango groves left in South Florida, the Erickson family chose to focus on specialty varieties that were not found in retail stores, as well as the winter vegetables that have sustained Erickson Farm for four generations.