The Tropical Fruit Forum
Citrus => Citrus General Discussion => Topic started by: Millet on October 02, 2017, 03:43:06 PM
-
Fresh citrus for eating, such as grown in California nets the grower between $17 and $20 for each 40-pound carton, while oranges diverted to orange juice production, such as grown in Florida get about $185 a ton, which equates to about $3.70 for 40 pounds,
-
How about starting a mango orchard over there. Mango smoothy's are in now.
-
In other words, even if the cost of labor to pick those oranges doubled, it probably wouldn't have a significant effect on the overall price of orange juice you buy at the supermarket.
The oranges themselves account for only a tiny fraction of the price of the end product. There's distribution, processing, retail...
Another reason why, even though the mass production farming of oranges turns out yield a very low price unit cost, it can still be practical to grow your own fruit. Right from the tree to your table cuts out the distribution and retail costs.
-
Growing your own fruit at home is fun. However, one may ask if it is really cheaper for one to pay for the upkeep of trees ( fertilizer, water, pruning, mulching, spraying) than to just buy fruit in store. Citrus used to be no maintenance when I was a kid in Fl, but I can tell you that I spend a lot more on upkeep of peaches, apples, etc, and of course winter protection for citrus here in NC. Native fruits however, such as paw paw and wild crabapple are no maintenance and I can pretty much call their produce "free fruit".