Florida will see greater tangerine supply this year but the mix of varieties will be different. "We're continuing to see the traditional varieties decline, but proprietary varieties like Juicy Crunch and Autumn Honey are increasing in volume and making up for that shortfall plus some," says Noble Citrus' president Quentin Roe, a third-generation grower who is being followed by his son Adam Roe who is the company's chief operating officer.
© Noble CitrusQuentin Roe in a Noble Citrus Juicy Crunch grove.
This comes as growing regions for citrus continue to evolve and develop in the southeast. "There have been some replanting of tangerine varieties in north Florida and south Georgia above the line where the greening seems to be affecting crops. These are emerging growing areas that have a lot of learning going on," says Roe. "Central Florida has gravitated to varieties that are really functioning well. Greening has taken such a toll in central Florida that most of the traditional varieties grown there have gone away."
Great growing conditions for citrus
The greater crop also follows positive growing conditions this season–a welcome development following last year's challenges with both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. "Florida has had the best growing conditions it's seen in 20-plus years. I've been in this for 45 years and this will go down as one of the top five growing seasons we've ever had," says Roe. "We had rain and dry periods both at the right time. We also had cooler weather earlier in the fall this year than we've seen in 15 years. Disease pressure was down and tree health had recovered pretty well from the hurricanes."
© Noble Citrus
Roe's son Adam, COO of Noble Citrus, also walking a Juicy Crunch grove.
What is unique about this season seems to be the timing–while oranges are on a normal timeline this season, as are screenhouse grapefruit, open field grapefruit is slightly behind and tangerines are notably ahead by 2.5 weeks.
How about demand? It looks good for proprietary varieties of tangerines though global pressures continue to be a challenge in the movement of citrus–everything from an oversupply of imports to tariffs to how much money consumers actually have to spend on food. "We're blessed with really good quality and a good consumer eating experience. We're optimistic about that. However there are some unknowns out there that just make this a very spooky season," he says, noting that it is in conversation with retailers right now about shifting ads that were to run after Christmas given the early timing of the tangerine crop.
Update on pricing
As for pricing, it's expected to be similar to last year's pricing. "We're not expecting a significant difference from last year, though again there are a whole lot of weird things going on there," says Roe.
© Noble CitrusJuicy Crunch trees are being planted in a number of other growing regions.
Looking further ahead, Roe sees an expansion in growing areas for its Juicy Crunch tangerine. "We hope to see some of those trees go in the ground in California next year," he says. "It's also being tested around the world and we've got trees in Spain and Egypt. Egypt has probably the most advanced plantings right now, but we also have plantings in South Africa and South America. We're really excited about where that program's going."
For more information:
Quentin Roe
Noble Citrus
[email protected]
https://noblecitrus.com/
