Overview
These articles function as an Extension-style cost-of-production benchmarking report based on grower survey data. It is designed to document and standardize current production practices and associated costs for specific growing regions. By collecting data directly from growers, the articles capture real-world management approaches and input use as they evolve in response to changing conditions, while avoiding disclosure of individual operation details. The resulting estimates are not intended as prescriptive budgets or operation-specific financial records, but rather as reference benchmarks that growers, researchers, and industry professionals can use for planning, comparison, and economic analysis. The publication also serves as a tracking tool, enabling assessment of how production practices and cost structures transform over time in response to biological, economic, or regulatory changes.
Cost of Production for Processed Oranges in Central Florida in 2023/24
This article presents estimates for the cost of production per acre for processed oranges grown in Central Florida in 2023/24. The estimates were obtained by surveying growers regarding the costs of their production programs, which allows reporting representative estimates of the current grove caretaking practices, input combinations, and costs. This is important because, since the outbreak of HLB, growers have been changing their practices from season to season in an attempt to cope with the disease. Thus, surveying growers allows not only to report estimates that closely reflect their cost but also to track the changes they make to their cultural practices. However, the cost estimates below do not represent any individual operation. Instead, their purpose is to serve as a benchmark. The number of acres managed by the combined operations of the sample of participating growers accounted for approximately 3,700 acres; representing 4% of the acreage devoted to oranges in central Florida, which was estimated at 103,559 (USDANASS 2024). The questionnaire asked growers to provide annual, per acre costs by program for a “typical” irrigated, mature grove (10+ years old), including costs related to their tree replacement program. Table 1 shows the cultural cost of production by program. The estimates include both the cost of materials and the cost associated with their application.
The total cost for weed management —which includes chemical and mechanical mowing as well as herbicides— was $347.00 per acre. At $569.00 per acre, foliar sprays represented the largest cost. Fertilizer was the second-largest expense at $559.33 per acre. The expense for pruning was $22.50 per acre, while that for irrigation was $256.67 per acre. This season the expense for OTC trunk injections was $206.67 per acre. Adding all the costs listed above, the cultural cost of growing oranges for processing without tree replacement was $1,961.17 per acre. Growers were also asked to provide details regarding their reset practices, including the number of trees replaced in their groves. On average, growers replaced ten trees per acre during 2023/24. The total cost of tree replacement, including tree removal, site preparation, and supplemental care of those ten young trees was estimated at $296.67 per acre. Adding such figure to the total cost above adds up to a total production cost with tree replacement of $2,257.83 per acre. Figure 1 depicts a double pie chart.
The larger pie shows the cost of each program as well as the percentage relative to the total cultural production costs with tree replacement. The smaller pie in Figure 1 provides greater detail regarding the individual components included in foliar sprays. Insecticides accounted for $97.67 per acre (which represented 4% of the cultural cost of production); fungicides accounted for $78.67 per acre (4%); foliar nutritionals for $216.67 per acre (10%); ground application totaled $176 per acre (8%). In addition to cultural costs, growers typically incur in other costs when managing 2 their groves. Those costs include management, regulatory, and opportunity costs and totaled $587.61 per acre. Table 2 shows the total cost of production for processed oranges grown in central Florida during 2023/24 was $2,845.45 per acre.
Based on this estimate, the break-even prices per box and per pound solids for different levels of yield are presented in Table 3.
Break-even prices were calculated on an on-tree and delivered-in basis. The latter takes into account that harvesting costs per box were estimated at $4.49 for early and mid-season and $4.53 for Valencias. The calculations in Table 3 also include the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) assessment of $0.12 per box for the 2023/24 season. Thus, for example, the on-tree and delivered-in break-even prices for early and mid-season for covering the total costs of production with yield at 75 boxes per acre were $8.43 and $9.46 per pound solids, respectively. For Valencias, the on-tree and deliveredin break-even prices for covering the total costs of production with yield at 75 boxes per acre were $7.42 and $8.33 per pound solids, respectively. Summary This article presents a summary of the 2023/24 costs of production for processed oranges grown in central Florida. The methodology to collect the data consisted of surveying growers directly to reflect their costs. The main change this season was the adoption of oxytetracycline injections to treat HLB infected trees. The cultural cost and total cost of production for processed oranges this season were $2,257.83 per acre and $2,845.45 per acre, respectively. Typical users of these estimates include growers and consultants, who use them as a benchmark; property appraisers, who use them to compute the taxes for property owners; and researchers, who use the estimates to evaluate the economic feasibility of potential new technologies.
References: USDA-NASS. 2024. Commercial Citrus Inventory 2024.
Archived Production Costs Summaries – Central Florida (Ridge)
*no data available
| 2023/24 | 2022/23* | 2021/22* | 2020/21* | 2019/20* | 2018/19* |
| 2017/18* | 2016/17* | 2015/16 | 2014/15 | 2013/14* | 2012/13* |
| 2011/12 | 2010/11 (revised) |
2010/11 | 2009/10 | 2008/09 | 2007/08 |
| 2006/07 | 2005/06 | 2004/05 | 2003/04 |
Cost of Production for Processed Oranges in Southwest Florida in 2023/24
This article presents estimates for the cost of production per acre for processed oranges grown in southwest Florida in 2023/24. The estimates were obtained by surveying growers regarding the costs of their production programs, which allows reporting representative estimates of the current grove caretaking practices, input combinations, and costs. This is important because, since the outbreak of HLB, growers have been changing their practices from season to season in an attempt to cope with the disease. Thus, surveying growers allows not only to report estimates that closely reflect their cost but also to track the changes they make to their cultural practices. However, the cost estimates below do not represent any individual operation. Instead, their purpose is to serve as a benchmark.
The number of acres managed by the combined operations of the sample of participating growers accounted for approximately 20,030 acres; representing 14% of the acreage devoted to oranges in Southwest Florida, which was estimated at 143,168 (USDANASS 2024). The questionnaire asked growers to provide annual, per acre costs by program for a “typical” irrigated, mature grove (10+ years old), including costs related to their tree replacement program.
Table 1 shows the cultural cost of production by program. The estimates include both the cost of materials and the cost associated with their application. The total cost for weed management —which includes chemical and mechanical mowing as well as herbicides— was $258.34 per acre. The expense for foliar sprays was $423.25 per acre, while the expense for fertilizer was $521.75 per acre. The expense for pruning was $37.70 per acre and that for irrigation accounted for $301.33 per acre. This season the expense for OTC trunk injections was $193.50 per acre. Adding all the costs listed above, the cultural cost of growing oranges for processing without tree replacement was $1,735.87 per acre.
Growers were also asked to provide details regarding their reset practices, including the number of trees replaced in their groves. On average, growers replaced eight trees per acre during 2023/24. The total cost of tree replacement, including tree removal, site preparation, and supplemental care of those eight young trees was estimated at $265.00 per acre. Adding such figure to the total cost above adds up to a total production cost with tree replacement of $2,000.87 per acre.
Figure 1 depicts a double pie chart. The larger pie shows the cost of each program as well as the percentage relative to the total cultural production costs with tree replacement. The smaller pie in Figure 1 provides greater detail regarding the individual components included in foliar sprays. Insecticides accounted for $96.17 per acre (which represented 5% of the cultural cost of production); fungicides accounted for $65 per acre (3%); foliar nutritionals for $124 per acre (6%); ground application totaled $139 per acre (7%).
In addition to cultural costs, growers typically incur in other costs when managing their groves. Those costs include management, regulatory, and opportunity costs and 2 totaled $686.36 per acre. Table 2 shows the total cost of production for processed oranges grown in southwest Florida during 2023/24 was $2,687.23 per acre. Based on this estimate, the break-even prices per box and per pound solids for different levels of yield are presented in Table 3. Break-even prices were calculated on an on-tree and delivered-in basis. The latter takes into account that harvesting costs per box were estimated at $4.49 for early and mid-season and $4.53 for Valencias. The calculations in Table 3 also include the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) assessment of $0.12 per box for the 2023/24 season. Thus, for example, the on-tree and delivered-in break-even prices for early and mid-season for covering the total costs of production with yield at 75 boxes per acre were $7.96 and $8.99 per pound solids, respectively. For Valencias, the on-tree and deliveredin break-even prices for covering the total costs of production with yield at 75 boxes per acre were $7.01 and $7.92 per pound solids, respectively.
Summary
This article presents a summary of the 2023/24 costs of production for processed oranges grown in southwest Florida. The methodology to collect the data consisted of surveying growers directly to reflect their costs. The main change this season was the adoption of oxytetracycline injections to treat HLB infected trees. The cultural cost and total cost of production for processed oranges this season were $2,000.87 per acre and $2,687.23 per acre, respectively. Typical users of these estimates include growers and consultants, who use them as a benchmark; property appraisers, who use them to compute the taxes for property owners; and researchers, who use the estimates to evaluate the economic feasibility of potential new technologies.
References
USDA-NASS. 2024. Commercial Citrus Inventory 2024.
Archived Production Costs Summaries – Southwest Florida
*no data available
| 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 |
| 2017/18 | 2016/17 | 2015/16 | 2014/15 | 2013/14* | 2012/13* |
| 2011/12 | 2010/11 (revised) |
2010/11 | 2009/10 | 2008/09 | 2007/08 |
| 2006/07 | 2005/06 | 2004/05 | 2003/04 |
Cost of Production for Fresh Market Grapefruit Grown in Indian River, 2022/23
In this article, I present the cost of production per acre for growing fresh grapefruit in the Indian River region during 2022/23. The estimates were obtained by surveying growers by mail regarding the costs of their production programs, which allows reporting representative estimates of the current grove caretaking practices, input combinations, and costs in commercial operations. This is particularly important because, since HLB was found, growers have been modifying their practices from year to year in an attempt to cope with the disease. However, the cost estimates below do not represent any individual operation. Instead, their purpose is to serve as a benchmark for the Florida citrus industry.
The number of acres managed by the combined operations of the sample of participating growers accounted for approximately 9,500 acres; representing 72% of the acreage devoted to grapefruit in Indian River, which was estimated at 13,110 (USDA-NASS, 2023). The questionnaire asked growers to provide annual, per acre costs by program for a “typical” irrigated, mature grapefruit grove (10+ years old) with fruit marketed to the fresh market, including costs related to their tree replacement program. The figures below were obtained by computing the weighted average of the responses by the acreage of each of the growers.
Table 1 shows the cultural costs of production by program. Such estimates include both the costs of materials and their application. From Table 1, the total for weed management – which includes chemical and mechanical mowing as well as herbicides – was $278.17 per acre. At $1,355.43 per acre, foliar sprays represented the largest production cost. Fertilizer was the second largest expense at $512.00 per acre. The expense for pruning was $82.83 per acre, while that for irrigation was $191.33 per acre. The cost per acre of canker control was $66.67 and that of sub-contracted labor $50.00. New this season is the expense of oxytetracycline injection, which was $223.33 per acre. Adding all the costs listed above, the cultural cost of growing fresh grapefruit in the Indian River during 2022/23 without tree replacement was $2,829.76 per acre. Growers were also asked to provide details regarding their reset practices but they are currently not re-planting.
Figure 1 depicts a double pie chart. The larger pie shows the cost of each program as well as the percentage relative to the cultural production costs with tree replacement. The smaller pie in Figure 1 provides greater detail regarding the individual components included in foliar sprays. Insecticides accounted for $269 per acre and represented 10% of the cultural cost of production; fungicides accounted for $226 per acre (8%); foliar nutritionals for $262 per acre (9%); bactericides for $24 per acre (1%); ground application of materials for $459 per acre (16%); biostimulants $47 per acre (2%), and adjuvants $69 per acre (2%).
In addition to cultural costs, growers typically have to incur in other costs when managing their groves; those costs include management, regulatory, and opportunity costs, which in 2022/23 accounted for $980.25 per acre. Thus, table 2 shows the estimated total cost of production for fresh grapefruit growers in Indian River during 2022/23 was $3,810.01 per acre. Based on such estimate, the break-even prices per box for different levels of yield are presented in Table 3. Break-even prices were calculated on an on-tree and delivered-in basis. The latter takes into account that harvesting costs per box for fresh grapefruit were estimated at $3.46. The calculations in Table 3 also include the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) assessment of $0.07 per box for grapefruit. Thus, for example, the on-tree and delivered-in break-even prices for covering the total costs of production with yield at 200 boxes per acre were $27.09 and $28.93 per box, respectively.
Summary
This article presents a summary of the costs of production for fresh market grapefruit grown in the Indian River region during 2022/23. The methodology to collect the data consisted of surveying growers directly to closely reflect growers’ costs in the era of HLB. The main change this season was the adoption of oxytetracycline injections to treat HLB infected trees. The total cost of production for fresh grapefruit in Indian River during 2022/23 was $3,810.01 per acre. Typical users of the estimates presented herein include growers and consultants, who use them as a benchmark; property appraisers, who use them to compute the taxes for property owners; and researchers, who use the estimates to evaluate the economic feasibility of potential new technologies.
References:
USDA-NASS. 2023. Commercial Citrus Inventory 2022/23.
Archived Production Costs Summaries – Indian River
*no data available
| 2023/24* | 2022/23 | 2021/22* | 2020/21 | 2019/20* | 2018/19 |
| 2017/18 | 2016/17 | 2015/16 | 2014/15 | 2013/14* | 2012/13* |
| 2011/12 | 2010/11 | 2009/10 | 2008/09 |