Florida Oranges and the Growth of the Citrus Industry

Farmers have been growing commercial citrus crops in Florida since the mid-19th century. Its fertile soil and subtropical climate was ideal for growing the seeds the early Spanish explorers had planted. Of course, a lot has changed since then. Florida is now the world’s second leading citrus producer behind Brazil. In this article we will take a closer looker at the Florida citrus industry.

Products

Florida is the US leader in orange, grapefruit and lemon production. Farmers also cultivate a wide selection of specialty fruits like tangerines and tangelos.
About eighty percent of the fresh fruit is processed into juice. This includes fifty percent of the grapefruits and an incredible ninety-five percent of Florida oranges. And since the orange dominates the Florida citrus industry, orange juice is the single most popular and profitable product.

According to recent numbers, Florida produces more than eighty percent of the five million gallons of orange juice Americans drink each year. About two-thirds of juice is shipped in frozen concentrated form.

Popular orange varieties include the Navel, the Hamlin and the Valencia. The fresh orange season generally runs from October through June, while oranges are processed for juice year round.

Market Share

The Sunshine State produces about seventy percent of America’s citrus. Florida oranges are also packed and exported to markets in Japan, France, the U.K. and Canada.

In spite of having only a fraction of the acreage, Florida stacks up quite well against Brazil, the world leader in citrus production. Each year, Florida produces about sixty percent of the total Brazilian crop.

Acreage

Though it pales by comparison to Brazil, there are over 550,000 acres of citrus groves in Florida with more than 74 million citrus trees. Most of these trees are orange trees and most of them are located in the southern half of the Florida peninsula. The reason for this is simple: temperatures are generally warmer in these areas and there is less risk of a freeze.

Harvesting

In spite of the fact that eighty percent of Florida citrus is processed, fruit is only harvested when ripe. Once Florida oranges are collected, the fruit will not continue to ripen. All citrus fruits are handpicked and deposited in large canvas bags. These bags are then taken to trucks that transfer the fruit to the packinghouse, where it is washed, assigned a grade and packed. The fruit that is to be processed is then transported to the plants, while the fruit that is to be eaten is shipped straightaway. At last count, there were forty functioning packinghouses and twenty enormous processing plants in the Sunshine State.

Economics

The Florida citrus industry is one of the single largest employers in the state with nearly eighty thousand workers. Average annual revenues are over 9 billion dollars.