Florida citrus growers anticipate a good year

This should be a good year for Florida citrus with grower-shippers reporting good growing conditions for oranges and grapefruit, and some suppliers adding increasingly popular easy peelers, like the ones that have taken off in California.

Volume will be down in some categories, however.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in its November citrus crop forecast, estimated that Florida growers will pack 57 million 90-pound boxes of oranges during the 2020-21 season, down from 29.6 million boxes last season; and they should have 4.5 million 85-pound boxes of grapefruit, down from 4.8 million boxes during 2019-20.

Tangerines and tangelos should be up slightly to 1.1 million 95-pound boxes from 1 million last year.

Florida Classic Growers now is offering juice oranges, red grapefruit and tangerines, said president Al Finch.

As of early January, volume was trending about the same as last year, but Finch said he anticipates a big second half of the season from January through May.

The company will have increased volume of valencia oranges this season.

Quality has been good.

“We’ve experienced a cooler holiday season this year versus the past few years, which will help color up the fruit on the trees,” he said.

Fort Pierce, Fla.-based DLF International offers oranges, grapefruit and some seedless tangerines, said owner Doug Feek.

Juice oranges will be the company’s main item until the end of June or early July.

Early-season oranges will finish by early February, then the company will switch to valencias.

“Quality has been good,” Feek said. “The brix levels are looking good.”

DLF’s volume will be up about 15% this season compared to last year, fueled by a doubling of the firm’s grapefruit volume and increases in oranges, honeybells and tangerines.

Oviedo, Fla.-based Duda Farm Fresh Foods Inc. finished its navel orange program in the fall and now is shipping hamlin juice oranges, which will continue until late January, and then launch its pineapple oranges followed by valencias from mid-

February until June, said John Holford, citrus commodity manager.

“We’ll have a good crop of oranges,” he said.

Dark red grapefruit started in October and will be available into February, and marsh ruby grapefruit will be around until late March or April.

“We had a very, very wet summer,” Holford said, which is resulting in larger-size grapefruit this season.

“We kind of missed that larger fruit the last couple of years,” he said.

The cleanliness and exterior quality of the grapefruit has been good, and the eating quality has been excellent, Holford said.

Overall, volume at Duda should be up this year compared to last year, thanks largely to an increase in volume of some new easy peel varieties the company has added.

Holford said there was a “huge pivot” from bulk citrus to bagged product from April through the summer with imported citrus, but interest in bagged product has not been the same since the Florida season kicked off.

But he added the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program boosted demand for 3- and 4-pound bags.

Seald Sweet International, Vero Beach, Fla., was just getting into the second half of its grapefruit season in early January, said GT Parris, commodity manager.

Spot picking took place during the first part of the season, he said. Now workers were going back to clean-pick the groves.
Grapefruit sizes will be smaller, Parris said, because larger sizes already have been picked.

Sizing during the second half of the season will be in the 23- to 27-count range compared to 40-48 during the first part.

“Quality has been good,” he said. “We’ve had a really good run on Florida citrus in general.”

Exceptional flavor has been returning to the fruit after an absence of about four years as growers learn how to deal with citrus greening, he said.

Fruit quality is rebounding as growers discover better spray and fertilization techniques, Parris said.