According to Ariel Singerma, a University of Florida economist a drop in production costs for Indian River growers of grapefruit helped them break even. The report was based on a July 2016 survey of 70 growers representing a majority of grapefruit acres in the Indian River area.
According to Singerman, per-acre production costs dropped to $2,236 in the 2015-16 season, from more than $2,400 the previous season. He explains the cuts: “Growers simply cannot keep up with that level of expense, so they are cutting back on their programs.” He says that the single biggest cut came in tree replacement costs. “They (growers) had replaced six trees per acre per year in the previous season, and in 2015-16 they replaced only two trees per acre per year,” Singerman says.
Since the early 2000s, the cost of production on a per box basis has soared from about $2 per box to $7 per box. “As a consequence of the overall increase in the cost of production and the decrease in yield, particularly in the last few seasons, the cost of production per box has increased more (on a percentage basis) than the cost per acre." She said this was due to the rising costs of citrus greening and bad weather.
Singerman reports that grower costs in the two seasons before 2015-16 exceeded revenues, leading to operating losses for the average grower. “But this past season (2015-16), since the cost of production decreased and revenues increased, they were closer to that break-even level,” he says.
source: citrusindustry.net
