Author Topic: How Many Trees Per Acre Needed To Make A Profit  (Read 1398 times)

Millet

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How Many Trees Per Acre Needed To Make A Profit
« on: December 04, 2017, 09:23:37 PM »
At economic seminar on Nov. 30 agreed that low-density citrus plantings would likely be hazardous to growers’ financial health in the face of HLB. One also reported that the average grower is not making a profit, and that small growers are exiting the industry faster than larger growers. “We were looking into different tree densities: 145 trees to the acre, 220 trees to the acre and 303 trees to the acre,” says Ariel Singerman, economist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). “We considered different scenarios for yield: low and high, and different scenarios for prices: low, medium and high. And basically what we found is that you don’t make any money when you have 145 trees to the acre and you have a low-yield scenario” which the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports is the average in Florida groves. “You need to have at least 15 percent over that (average yield), and even then you have a modest return” with 145 trees per acre, Singerman says. Even at 220 and 303 trees per acre, it takes a while for growers to break even on their investments, under Singerman’s economic analysis. “Even the best-case scenario takes about 10 years just to bre ak even,” Singerman says. The economist acknowledges that many growers are uncertain they can get 10 years of production out of a tree in the face of HLB.  Economist Tom Spreen, UF/IFAS professor emeritus, agreed with Singerman that growers can’t be profitable planting 145 trees per acre. He said growers likely need to plant more than 200 trees to the acre to be profitable. Singerman says Florida citrus growers now are losing money, on average. “If we take the average yield for the state and the average price of (oranges) … the grower is not making money currently and has not been making money for the past few seasons,” he says.
Citrus Industry News

« Last Edit: December 04, 2017, 10:00:08 PM by Millet »

SoCal2warm

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Re: How Many Trees Per Acre Needed To Make A Profit
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2017, 12:12:48 PM »
It's unfortunate because oranges on older trees taste better. Also this just coincides with the trend of smaller trees packed closer together. A hundred years ago it was very common for orchards to consist of big trees, with space between them. But as time went on, the trees got smaller and smaller, and more closely planted, for a variety of reasons. So today's orchards do not provide as pleasant scenery as the ones in old times.

Millet

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Re: How Many Trees Per Acre Needed To Make A Profit
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2017, 03:39:50 PM »
The reason for big citrus trees a hundred years ago was because they were started from seed back then.  A seed grown tree already had some size to it before it matured and begun producing fruit.

manfromyard

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Re: How Many Trees Per Acre Needed To Make A Profit
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2017, 07:49:55 PM »
I guess that's the end for smaller growers. The land is too expensive and globalization makes it hard to compete paying us labor prices.