To help people live happier, healthier, and longer lives by making it easier to reduce sugar
Splenda Stevia Farms is the first-ever fully integrated stevia farm in the United States. The farm is designed to grow the best-tasting stevia, and to invest in the community, the people, and the environment. The warm, sunny climate, soil and water resources make Central Florida ideal for growing high-quality stevia plants, and our sustainable farming techniques are reshaping the impact stevia processing has on the environment. Our stevia is harvested by local farmers creating a new American agriculture industry and ensuring higher-quality, great-tasting stevia.
Our stevia plants are pollinated by bees and grown in sunshine and fresh air.
Our stevia plants start in our fields at Splenda Stevia Farms, where they are pollinated by bees and nourished in the fresh air and sunshine. The seeds are tested for strong agricultural properties and great tasting sugars (glycosides). This process repeats until we create great tasting Splenda U.S Grown Stevia. We hand-select the best cuttings from mother plants to propagate growing new roots of our stevia plants over & over again in our greenhouses to create more U.S. grown stevia plants. These new plants are transferred to our fields to mature into great tasting leaves. The stevia leaves are picked from the plant, harvested & dried.
At our on-site extraction facility on our Florida farm, the dried leaves are steeped in fresh water to extract the sweet parts of the leaf and processed at our Indianapolis-based manufacturing facility to be the best-tasting sweetener and combined with a plant-based ingredient, so it measures like sugar.
Splenda Stevia Farm Management designed the farm to be eco-friendly from the very start: we implemented water conservation measures, eliminated long supply chains, reduced CO2 emissions, and adopted socially responsible farming techniques.
By growing stevia in the U.S., we are drastically cutting down on the environmental impact of a complex and heavy transportation infrastructure.
The extraction method simply uses stevia leaves and water. Once the stevia leaves are harvested, they are steeped in fresh water. The sweet stevia is extracted from of the cells of the leaves and is taken away with the water. The water is then evaporated and filtered, after which the pure stevia glycosides are available to sweeten foods and beverages naturally. The clean stevia leaves are then removed from the steeping tanks, dried, and pelletized as nutrient-rich feed for the livestock. In turn, the livestock produces dairy and protein to sustain life in other ways. It also produces manure which is collected and makes its way back to the fields, fertilizing the same stevia plants that will again be harvested, thus completing the circle of sustainability.
Learn more about how stevia is being grown in the United States at the Splenda Stevia Farm in Central Florida. Follow Chip Carter from “Where the Food Comes From,” as he explores every step of the stevia production process.
Our sweetest stevia plants are grown to be great tasting so you can replace added sugar in all of your favorite foods and drinks.
According to a 2023 Ipsos Brand Equity Report, Splenda outperforms the category average among category users and leads on the brand’s top five drivers including best tasting, trust, and popularity.
