Is it Profitable to Plant New Citrus Groves in Florida in the Era of HLB?

Abstract

I led the efforts to develop an analysis that describes the establishment and production costs for a new grove in Florida under endemic HLB conditions for three tree planting densities under different market conditions. Key findings of the analysis include the following. Establishing a new grove with a tree density of 145 trees per acre, which is similar to that of the state’s average, was found to be not profitable under current market conditions. Moreover, such tree density only attains a modest return under potential higher prices. Despite the higher level of investment required for planting 220 and 303 trees per acre, the analysis shows that under the assumptions and scenarios analyzed, those investments yield higher returns and have the potential to be economically viable.