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Florida Farm Commodities
 Oranges
Florida Agricultural Facts, 1998 Edition

Floridas 244 million-box orange crop in 1997-98 was the largest in history, but depressed prices keep growers from reaping record profits. The on-tree price of $3.61 for a 90-pound box accounted for a little over $880 million.

The overall value, with a delivered-in price of $5.41 a box, topped $1.3 billion for the second season in a row.

Florida growers accounted for 76.1 percent of the nations orange crop in 1997-98.

Florida Orange Production and Value

Year

Bearing Acreage

Yield (box)

Production (box)

Value (box)

On-Tree Value
1997-98

1996-97

1995-96

1994-95

1993-94

 658,390

624,900

594,800

562,800

510,800

 370

362

342

365

341

 244,000,000

215,504,000

203,300,000

205,500,000

174,200,000

 $3.61

$3.54

$4.68

$3.74

$4.09

 $881,442,000

$801,344,000

$951,683,000

$767,924,000

$713,312,000
1992-93

1991-92

1990-91

1989-90

1988-89

 489,200

444,300

420,900

399,500

388,700

 381

315

360

276

377

 186,600,000

139,800,000

151,500,000

110,200,000

146,600,000

 $3.48

$5.93

$5.89

$6.21

$7.41

 $649,713,000

$828,749,000

$892,675,000

$684,226,000

$1,086,319,000

1979-80

1969-70

1959-60

576,600

636,100

435,820

358

216

201

206,700,000

137,700,000

87,600,000

$3.72

$2.06

$2.42

$768,877,000

$284,357,000

$211,992,000

Box = 90 pounds
Source: Florida Agricultural Statistics Service

Leading Florida Orange-Producing States --- 1997-98

State

Bearing Acres

Production (box)

On-Tree Value
Florida

California

Texas

Arizona

 658,390

196,200

9,500

9,200

 244,000,000

74,000,000

1,525,000

1,000,000

 $1,320,166,000

$668,650,000

$5,914,000

$5,345,000

U.S. Total

 824,100 320,525,000 $2,000,075,000


Leading Orange-Producing States --- 1997-98

 Leading Orange-Producing States---1997-98

Leading Florida Orange-Producing Counties --- 1997-98

County

Total Acres

Total Trees

Production (box)

Estimated On-Tree Value
Polk

DeSoto

Highlands

Hendry

Hardee

 84,690

62,082

66,903

84,464

48,976

 9,417,100

8,001,300

8,734,200

13,151,800

5,389,500

 34,627,000

28,959,000

28,819,000

27,156,000

22,885,000

 $125,000,000

$104,542,000

$104,037,000

$98,015,000

$82,615,000
Martin

St. Lucie

Hillsborough Collier

Manatee

 39,838

48,077

25,690

31,172

21,094

 5,577,000

6,043,500

2,663,700

4,621,500

2,549,200

 12,302,000

11,831,000

11,263,000

9,754,000

9,196,000

 $44,410,000

$42,710,000

$40,659,000

$35,212,000

$33,198,000
Indian River

Lake

Osceola

Pasco

Charlotte

 28,216

15,767

12,927

10,684

16,756

 3,190,300

2,058,000

1,386,000

1,404,900

3,171,800

 7,324,000

6,039,000

5,927,000

4,767,000

4,575,000

 $26,440,000

$21,800,000

$21,396,000

$17,209,000

$16,516,000
Lee

Orange

Glades

Okeechobee

Palm Beach

 10,017

8,295

8,631

9,971

7,820

 1,382,900

954,200

1,296,200

1,214,400

1,104,500

 3,248,000

3,122,000

2,947,000

2,941,000

2,291,000

 $11,725,000

$11,270,000

$10,639,000

$10,617,000

$8,270,000
Brevard

Sarasota

Seminole

Volusia

 8,106

1,695

1,107

1,203

 928,200

183,200

113,300

117,900

 1,787,000

658,000

396,000

329,000

 $6,451,000

$2,375,000

$1,429,000

$1,185,000

All others

34

4,400

142,000

$512,000

Florida Total

656,878

84,155,400

244,000,000

$881,442,000

Source: Florida Agricultural Service
Orange Facts
  • Oranges were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, and to the U.S. by Spanish explorers in the 16th century.
  • Florida is the second largest producer of oranges in the world following Brazil. In order of quantity produced, the top 10 orange-growing countries are: Brazil, United States, Mexico, Spain, Italy, China, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Greece.
  • Polk is Floridas leading orange producing county with more than 84,000 acres producing more than 34 million boxes, valued at more than $125 million in 1997-98.
  • The primary varieties of Florida oranges are Navel, Hamlin, Pineapple Orange and Valencia.

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