Production Budget for Bell Peppers in Palm Beach County, Florida¹

John VanSickle, Scott Smith, and Eugene McAvoy²

Overview

Bell peppers are an important crop to the state of Florida, with Palm Beach County being the largest production area. Statewide, Florida harvested 17,500 acres of bell peppers during the 2006–07 growing season, valued at $183 million (Table 1). In 2007, acreage planted to bell peppers in Florida decreased 10 percent while acreage harvested increased by 6.7 percent. Yield per acre (28-pound bushels) for Florida peaked in the 2003–04 season at a state average of 1,107 bushels, and has averaged in the range of 861 to 886 bushels over the last three seasons. Production increased 7 percent in 2007 while value per bushel decreased 8.2 percent. Overall, the total value of the state crop has decreased 16 percent since the 2003–04 season.

Production Practices

Bell pepper production practices vary considerably across the major Florida production areas. Most of the state's bell pepper crop is transplanted in double rows on polyethylene-mulched raised beds, using either drip or seep irrigation technology. Methyl bromide in combination with chloropicrin is applied prior to planting transplants on more than 70 percent of Florida's bell pepper acreage for the management of soil insects, pathogens, nematodes, and weeds (especially nutsedge), all of which are major pests in bell pepper production. Approximately 33 percent of the Florida growers use stakes and twine around the bed perimeters to construct "corrals" to contain the plants. Standard spacing is six feet between bed centers, with plants typically planted ten inches apart. Bell peppers are usually hand harvested at least twice during the growing season. South Florida bell pepper growers may harvest up to five times in profitable market conditions.

Production Budgets

Table 2 is a per-acre composite budget breaking down the specific cost components used to estimate the budget expense categories and total estimated production cost per acre. The budget is intended to reflect the cost of production using representative production practices that are considered typical for bell peppers grown in Palm Beach County. What constitutes a representative production practice is defined by a consensus of opinion of UF/IFAS field experts, industry experts, and various producers in the production area. Cost estimates resulting from this process do not represent the average cost of production in a statistical sense and the production practices listed are not necessarily recommended production practices. The intent of these cost budgets is to establish a benchmark within a comprehensive range of potential costs that could be expected to produce the crop. The budget also contains a Your Cost column that enables you to enter your individual expenses for comparative purposes.

The production budget for 2008 indicates that the pre-harvest variable cost for bell peppers in Palm Beach County totaled an estimated $6,153 per acre, an increase of 22 percent over pre-harvest variable costs estimated for 2006. The fixed costs for a representative grower totaled $3,433 per acre in 2008, a 16 percent increase over the fixed costs in 2006. With an assumed yield of 1,100 bushels per acre, harvest and marketing costs totaled $4,895 per acre, bringing the total cost of production to an estimated $14,480 per acre, or $13.16 per bushel, an increase of 20 percent over the 2006 costs. The cost item that has increased most significantly since the 2005–06 budget is fertilizer, which increased 307 percent. Overall, labor costs (general farm labor and tractor driver wages), miscellaneous costs (including hand weeding, driving stakes, tying plants, and plastic mulch disposal preparation), and transplants increased 10 percent, 2 percent, and 11 percent, respectively, over this period.

Additional Resources

We have developed interactive workbooks containing data used to create the UF/IFAS estimated budget in Table 2. These workbooks can be used to produce cost estimates broken down by specific groups (e.g., herbicide). Included in these workbooks are pesticide worksheets listing all of the currently labeled pesticides so that users can estimate their own pesticide costs, and machinery worksheets listing the machinery cost coefficients so that users can estimate their own fixed and variable costs. The International Agricultural Trade and Policy Center internet site (http://www.fred.ifas.ufl.edu/iatpc/index.php) contains a link to download these interactive Excel workbooks. These workbooks enable users to compare their production expenses to the UF/IFAS estimates presented. These workbooks may be saved to your computer and printed in their entirety or printed as individual worksheets.

The following information is provided as a convenience to your research and decision making efforts.

• Botany: Family-Solanaceae, Pepper-Capsicum annuum

• Related crops in the Solanaceae Family: Tomato, Potato, Eggplant

• Common Bell Pepper Varieties for Commercial Production:

Common Varieties: Aladdin, Aristotle, Brigadier, Crusader, Double-Up, Enterprise-X3R, Excursion II, Heritage, Lafayette, Legionnaire, Olympus, Orion, Paladin, Patriot, Polaris, Revolution, Sentry, Snapper, Telestar, Wizard-X3R.
Specialty Varieties: Cubanelle, Aruba, Biscayne, Key Largo, Ancho Villa, Cherry Bomb, Grande, Hercules, Inferno, Large Red Thick, Mesilla, Mitla, Ventura.

For further information on pepper production in Florida please refer to EDIS publication HS732 (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CV130) or contact your local Extension specialists.

References

Olson, S.M., Simone, W.M. Stall, K.L. Pernezny, S.E. Webb, T.G. Taylor and S.A. Smith. 2007. Chapter 34, Pepper Production in Florida. In Vegetable Production Handbook for Florida 2006-2007. Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS) CV130. Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CV130

USDA/NASS. 2009. Crop Statistics. United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Washington, D.C. http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/

Tables

Table 1.

Florida bell pepper acreage, production, and value, crop years, 2002–03 through 2006–07.

Season	Planted	Harvested	Yield	Production	Unit Value	Total Value
	(acres)	(acres)	(28-lb bushels)	(1,000 bushels)	(dollars)	(1,000 dollars)
2002–03	17,800	17,700	1,000	17,700	10.05	177,920
2003–04	18,500	18,300	1,107	20,261	10.78	218,411
2004–05	19,400	19,000	861	16,357	13.05	213,428
2005–06	19,800	16,500	876	14,450	12.96	187,330
2006–07	18,000	17,500	886	15,500	11.82	183,148
Source: USDA/NASS, http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/

Table 2.

Estimated costs of producing one acre of bell peppers in Palm Beach County, Florida, 2007–08.

Based on Yield of 1,100 Units Per Acre		Unit	Quantity	Price	Value	Your Cost
				(dollars)	(dollars)
Pre-Harvest Variable Costs
	Transplants				1,000.00
	Fertilizer, mixed and lime				1,045.00
	Fumigant				600.00
	Herbicide				76.68
	Insecticide				503.27
	Fungicide				233.87
	Tractor + machinery				674.12
	Truck (pickup)				41.65
	Labor				470.14
	Plastic mulch				330.00
	Scouting				35.00
	Level land				100.00
	Hand weed				61.71
	Drive stakes				83.49
	String, stakes, and plastic disposal				399.30
	Stakes				120.00
	Clean ditches				100.00
	Plastic string				25.00
	Tie plants				36.30
	Interest on operating capital (10%)				216.98
	Total Pre-Harvest Variable Costs				6,152.50
Pre-Harvest Fixed Costs
	Tractor + machinery				125.41
	Land rent				400.00
	Overhead and management				2,907.42
	Total Pre-Harvest Fixed Costs				3,432.83
	Total Pre-Harvest Costs				9,585.33
Harvest and Marketing Costs
	Pick/pack/haul	bushel	1,100	3.00	3,300.00
	Sell	bushel	1,100	0.50	550.00
	Containers	each	1,100	0.95	1,045.00
	Total Harvest and Marketing Costs				4,895.00
Total Costs					14,480.33

Footnotes

This is EDIS document FE809, a publication of the Food and Resource Economics Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Published December 2009. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

John VanSickle, professor, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Scott Smith, economic analyst, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; and Eugene McAvoy, county extension director, Hardee County Extension, LaBelle, FL, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.

Production Budget for Bell Peppers in Palm Beach County, Florida1