Harvesting Charges for Florida Citrus

Abstract

This article summarizes the charges for harvesting citrus in Florida during the 2016/17 season. The cost of harvesting has been increasing in the last few years. The negative effect of HLB on fruit production can sensibly be argued to be a main contributor to such increase. Lower volume and size of fruit reduces harvesting productivity per block and thereby increases costs. In addition, as a result of HLB’s impact on citrus production in Florida, the industry has begun consolidating and harvesting companies are no exception. As the industry struggles to adapt to produce citrus in an HLB-endemic environment, growers’ economic returns change. The estimates we provide in this report for harvesting charges are key for computing on-tree prices and to estimate economic returns to citrus growers.