Early harvest has begun on some Florida oranges. "We're picking our first harvest on our earlier crops but the main crop won't be ready until about mid-October. We have a few blocks that are early," says Doug Feek of Feek Family Citrus. The start of the Florida orange crop is happening at the same time as it did last year.
As for the Florida orange crop, Feek says it's down a little bit. "However we'll have plenty of fruit for the fresh market," he says, adding that Brix levels and juice content also look as though they will be up. "So it should be a good quality crop from what we've seen. We'll have plenty of volume to meet the demand for the fresh market but the overall crop for juice will be down a little bit."
Sizing small for now
He also adds that the sizing is small right now and about the same sizing as last year. The crop will peak on 125s and 138s, followed by 100s with very few 80s and larger.
Meanwhile, demand looks to be good with California finishing up its juice oranges and Midknight oranges from South Africa in tighter supply this season. Also, Texas isn't going to be ready for another three to four weeks and Mexico as well.
This is all leaving pricing a little higher than last year. "Primarily that's because our juice prices will be up and it's not just Florida. Mexico and Texas will experience the same thing," says Feek.
For more information:
Doug Feek
Feek Family Citrus
Tel:1 (772) 473-3885
[email protected]
https://feekfamilycitrus.com/