Warm but manageable growing conditions have brought on a healthy crop of Texas sweet red grapefruit and early navel oranges this season.
“The crop looks good, the quality looks good,” says Dale Murden, president of Mission-based Texas Citrus Mutual.
Volume of both commodities should be similar to last season — close to 4 million cartons of grapefruit and about 1 million boxes of oranges. Texas sweet red grapefruit accounts for the majority of the Lone Star State’s citrus production.
The grapefruit harvest kicked off in late September and will continue until April or early May. Early navels will be available until the end of November, and valencias will ship in January, February and March.
Mission-based Lone Star Citrus Growers is taking steps to improve its operations as the harvest gets underway, says April Flowers, marketing director.
“We are fine-tuning a robotic palletizer this season, which will increase pack efficiencies,” Flowers says. “And our consumer website underwent a transition to a new platform, which will improve the end-user experience.”
Texas-grown sweet Rio Red grapefruit are the company’s main commodity.
“Thanks to the low acid and bright red flesh of our Rio Reds, our fans anxiously await Texas citrus season each year,” Flowers says.
On the organic scene, Mission-based South Tex Organics has kicked off its certified organic navel oranges and organic Rio Star grapefruit, says Russon Holbrook, vice president.
The company will start shipping valencia oranges in late January and will continue until April. Grapefruit will also be available from late October into April.
Volume from South Tex Organics should be similar to last year, Holbrook says. Sizes will include many 36s, 40s and 48s for grapefruit and 88s to 113s on oranges.
Water continues to be a challenge throughout the state, but Murden says growers will make it through the season.
The state’s more than 600 citrus growers enjoyed good prices and good quality during the 2024-2025 season, Murden says.
“Last year people were very happy,” he says.
Growers are still trying to rebuild tonnage they lost after a 2020-2021 freeze and periods of bad weather, Murden says.
“We’re just now starting to see our younger trees that have been planted in the last four years come into production,” he says.
Flowers says she’s happy with the strong Brix-acid ratio the fruit from Lone Star Citrus already has achieved at this point in the season.
The company is also a supplier of Texas-grown, supersweet oranges with varieties such as early, Marrs, pineapples and valencias.
Lone Star Citrus Growers expects to ship 1.1 million cartons of citrus from October to mid-March, slightly more than last year.
Holbrook says he’s pleased with South Tex Organics citrus as well.
“Quality is pretty positive,” he says.
Demand for organic citrus continues to be steady for the company.
“We have a very solid customer base,” Holbrook says. “Each year we pick up new buyers. Those buyers have been growing with us year over year.”
