Growers and Industry Attend OJ Break and Fruit Display

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred recently hosted an OJ Break and Fruit Display. The Dec. 18 back-to-back events were well attended.

Ariel Singerman, UF/IFAS citrus economist, presented his research during the OJ Break. One area he addressed was crop insurance adoption among growers.

Singerman shared a comparison of two crop insurance options — the dollar amount and actual production history (APH). The dollar amount coverage has been the most popular option for citrus growers, but that has been changing in recent years. APH was first offered to citrus growers in 2022.

Singerman’s data is based on statewide averages of production and crop prices. Because the APH policy is based on tree production history of the previous 10 years, it has an upside on policy payoffs since citrus production has been declining due to HLB.

Singerman noted that this crop season, APH has become the most popular option among citrus growers. He shared important considerations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency (RMA) includes in testing for downward trends to determine if historical adjustments are needed.

An adjustment is made if the average yield over the past three seasons decreases by more than 25% relative to the average yield of the last 10 years. If that were the case, the APH yield guarantee would be reduced by 20%.

He also noted that a citrus block will need to have produced at least 100 boxes per acre in at least one of the previous three years to be insurable under APH. But a grower can request from a regional RMA office a determined yield to insure acreage not meeting the 100-box requirement. However, the determined yield may not exceed 80% of the average yield for the entire APH database.

Yianni Lagos, chief executive officer of Soilcea, spoke at the OJ Break to provide growers with an update on the company’s work to develop a gene-edited CRISPR tree resistant to HLB. He said progress has been steady, and some of the trees look promising.

Lagos said grower trials with the most promising selection are expected to begin in 2025. Meanwhile, regulatory work to achieve needed clearance and nursery propagation is underway. He said trees could be commercially available to growers by as early as 2027.

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