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Cost of Production for Processed Oranges in Central Florida (Ridge), 2014/15

Ariel Singerman

Introduction

This article presents the cost of production per acre for processed oranges in central Florida during 2014/15. The cost estimates below do not represent any individual operation. Instead, their purpose is to serve as a benchmark for the Florida citrus industry. Typical users of these estimates include growers, consultants, property appraisers, and researchers.

The Survey

The data were collected during a meeting at the Highlands County Extension office in May of 2015. Five growers participated in the survey. The number of acres managed by their combined operations is approximately 25,000. The acreage for oranges in the central Florida region in 2014 was estimated at 138,750 acres (USDA/NASS 2014). Thus, the sample of growers represented 18% of the acreage devoted to oranges in that region.

 

 

Growers brought a completed survey form to the meeting that had been distributed to them beforehand. The questionnaire asked growers to provide annual, per-acre costs by program for a typical irrigated, mature grove (10+ years old), including resets. By surveying growers regarding the costs of their caretaking programs—as opposed to surveying chemical companies to obtain the retail cost of materials—the figures reported here better reflect growers' costs growers typically get discounts for bulk purchases that would not be accounted for otherwise.

The data collection process was completely anonymous and confidential. During the meeting, growers operated a remote control device that allowed them to "click in" the costs for each caretaking activity included in the survey. One of the main advantages of this surveying methodology was that growers were not required to submit their completed forms, which was useful to reassure their anonymity and to ensure that it would not be possible to trace data back to any individual operation. The estimates below were obtained by averaging the responses submitted by the group of participating growers.

Table 1 shows the costs of production by program. The estimates included both the cost of materials and the cost associated with their application. The total for weed management—which included chemical and mechanical mowing as well as herbicides—was $246.31 per acre. At $648.66 per acre, foliar sprays were the largest expense in grove caretaking. Fertilizer was the second largest expense at $469.80 per acre. Citrus Health Management Area (CHMA) sprays accounted for $56.65 per acre. The expense for pruning was $63.01 per acre, while that for irrigation was $104.14 per acre. Adding all the costs listed above, the cultural cost of growing oranges for processing during 2014/15 without tree replacement was $1,588.56 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 six trees per acre during 2014/15. The total cost of tree replacement, including tree removal, site preparation, and care of the young trees that replaced those six trees was estimated at $231.18 per acre. Adding the reset cost to the cultural cost yields a total production cost with tree replacement of $1,819.74 per acre.

The Florida citrus industry currently faces the challenges imposed by Huanglongbing (HLB, citrus greening); growers have responded to the disease by adjusting their inputs to varying degrees. Thus, there are currently different levels of spending in grove caretaking. To provide a range for those levels without disclosing individual grower data, we performed the computations presented in Table 2. This table shows the average cost of production per acre and standard deviation for the two largest expenses: foliar sprays and fertilizer. All other costs included in Table 1 are listed under Other program costs. Column 1 shows the average costs while columns 2 and 3 are obtained by subtracting and adding the value of the standard deviation from column 1, respectively. As shown at the bottom of Table 2, a low (high) level of caretaking for processed oranges totals $1,451.55 ($2,217.85).

Table 3 shows the total costs growers incurred during 2014/15; that is, the cultural cost of production with tree replacement presented in Table 1 plus other costs such as management, regulatory and opportunity costs. The total cost of production for processed oranges adds up to $2,282.19 per acre. Based on this estimate, the break-even prices per box for different levels of yield are presented in Table 4. Break-even prices are calculated on an on-tree and delivered-in basis. The latter assumes harvesting costs per box are $2.55, which is based on the results of the survey entitled 2014/15 Picking, Roadsiding, and Hauling Charges for Florida Citrus. The calculations in Table 4 also include the FDOC assessment of $0.20 per box for the 2014/15 season. Thus, for example, the on-tree and delivered-in break-even prices for covering the total costs of production with yield at 250 boxes per acre are $1.49 and $1.94 per pound solids, respectively.

Summary

This article presented a summary of the 2014/15 costs of production for processed oranges in central Florida (Ridge). The methodology chosen to collect the data was different from that used in previous years and consists of surveying growers directly. The current approach closely reflected growers' costs in the era of HLB, thereby introducing more variation and levels of spending in caretaking practices across citrus growers. The total cost of production for processed oranges with tree replacement in 2014/15 was $2,282.19 per acre.

References

United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA/NASS). 2014. Commercial Citrus Inventory: Preliminary Report. Florida Department of Agricultural Services, Maitland, FL.

Tables

Table 1. 

Cultural costs of production per ace for processed oranges in Central Florida (Ridge), 2014/15

Costs represent a mature grove (10+ years old) including resets

Number of Applications

Materials Cost per Acre ($)

Application Cost per Acre ($)

Total Cost per Acre ($)

Cultural Costs

    
 

Weed Management

    
  

Mowing (chemical & mechanical)

8

11.04

62.31

73.35

  

Herbicides

3

135.82

37.14

172.96

  

Total Weed Management Costs

   

246.31

 

Foliar Sprays

    
  

Insecticides

 

201.33

 

201.33

  

Fungicides

 

107.65

 

107.65

  

Nutritionals

 

132.78

 

132.78

  

Application:

    
   

Ground

7

 

192.52

192.52

   

Aerial

1

 

14.38

14.38

  

Total Foliar Sprays Costs

   

648.66

  

CHMAs Sprays

6

 

56.65

56.65

  

Total CHMAs Sprays Costs

   

56.65

 

Fertilizer

    
  

Ground/Dry Fertilizer 

3

210.87

33.77

244.64

  

Fertigation/Liquid Fertilizer

15

183.19

41.97

225.16

  

Total Fertilizer Costs

   

469.80

 

Pruning

    
  

Topping & Hedging

1

 

39.87

39.87

  

Chop/Mow Brush

1

 

23.14

23.14

  

Total Pruning Costs

   

63.01

 

Irrigation

    
  

Irrigation System1

   

47.56

  

Fuel for Pump

   

56.58

  

Total Irrigation Costs

   

104.14

Total Cultural Costs without Tree Replacement

  

1588.56

 

Tree Replacement (6 trees):

    
  

Tree Removal (clip-shear; use front-end loader)

  

40.80

  

Site Preparation and Plant Tree (includes reset trees)

 

73.68

  

Supplemental Fertilizer, Sprays, Sprout, etc. (trees 1–3 years old)

116.70

  

Total Tree Replacement Costs

   

231.18

Total Cultural Costs with Tree Replacement

  

1819.74

1 Irrigation system includes maintenance and repairs to emitters.

Table 2. 

Different levels of caretaking for processed oranges in Central Florida (Ridge), 2014/15

 

(1)

(2)

(3)

 

Average Cost

Low

High

  

–1 SD

+1 SD

 

$/acre

Foliar Sprays

   
 

Insecticides

201.33

126.57

276.09

 

Fungicides

107.65

44.60

170.69

 

Nutritionals

132.78

104.96

160.60

 

Ground Application

192.52

153.59

231.45

 

Aerial Application

14.38

0.00

58.68

 

Total Foliar Sprays Costs

648.66

429.73

897.52

Fertilizer

   
 

Ground/Dry Fertilizer

210.87

175.12

246.62

  

Application Cost

33.77

24.14

43.41

 

Fertigation/Liquid Fertilizer

183.19

95.06

271.32

  

Application Cost

41.97

26.23

57.72

 

Total Fertilizer Costs

469.80

320.55

619.06

Other cost (weed management, pruning, etc.)1

701.28

701.28

701.28

Total Production Cost with Tree Replacement

1819.74

1451.56

2217.86

1 This refers to the costs of programs included in Table 1, excluding foliar sprays and fertilizer.

Table 3. 

Total costs of production per acre for processed oranges in Central Florida (Ridge), 2014/15

Total Cultural Costs with Tree Replacement

1819.75

 

Other Costs

 
  

Interest on Operating (Cultural) Costs

90.99

  

Management Cost

81.75

  

Property Tax/Water Management Assessment

35.37

  

Interest on Average Capital Investment

254.34

  

Total Other Costs

462.45

Total Costs

2282.20

Table 4. 

Break-even price per box for processed oranges in Central Florida (Ridge), 2014/15

 

Yield (boxes per acre)

 

175

200

225

250

275

300

325

350

375

 

dollars per acre

Cost of Production per Acre

2282

2282

2282

2282

2282

2282

2282

2282

2282

Pick and Haul ($2.55/box)

446

510

574

638

701

765

829

893

956

FDOC Assessment ($0.20/box)

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

Total Delivered-in Cost Per Acre

2763

2832

2901

2970

3038

3107

3176

3245

3313

Break-even Price:

dollars per box

 

On-tree

13.04

11.41

10.14

9.13

8.30

7.61

7.02

6.52

6.09

 

Delivered-in

15.79

14.16

12.89

11.88

11.05

10.36

9.77

9.27

8.84

Break-even Price:1

dollars per pound solids

 

On-tree

2.13

1.87

1.66

1.49

1.36

1.25

1.15

1.07

1.00

 

Delivered-in

2.58

2.32

2.11

1.94

1.81

1.70

1.60

1.52

1.45

1 Assumes 6.11 pounds solids per box based on Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) Processor Statistical Report for the 2014/15 season.

 

Publication #FE985

Release Date:February 26, 2019

Reviewed At:April 7, 2022

Related Experts

Singerman, Ariel

Specialist/SSA/RSA

University of Florida

Related Topics

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About this Publication

This document is FE985, one of a series of the Food and Resource Economics Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date February 2016. Visit the EDIS website at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu for the currently supported version of this publication.

About the Authors

Ariel Singerman, assistant professor and Extension economist, Food and Resource Economics Department, UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, FL.

Contacts

  • Ariel Singerman