By Peter Chaires
There has been a good bit of talk recently about an anticipated shift in Florida citrus utilization. Some growers, who for many years saw their fruit utilized in processing, are looking for ways to get more of their crop in a fresh market carton for 2026–27. While grapefruit has always been grown with the fresh market in mind, this is a new focus for many orange growers.
Growers are never shy about identifying varietal characteristics that would benefit their operations. New Varieties Development & Management Corp. (NVDMC) is often the recipient of such suggestions. In some ways, growers are returning to the needs identified 20 years ago. In the early 2000s, growers and packers were seeking to address varietal obsolescence.
They needed mandarins with more consumer-friendly traits. Perhaps even more important was a consumer-friendly orange. Florida navel oranges were of great importance to Florida packinghouses. Navels have long been popular with northern visitors at roadside stands and fruit gift-shipping operations, but they were also key in domestic commercial markets. Though Florida was never what one might consider a typical or even favorable navel orange climate, navels were an important component in the varietal offering. They added diversity to the product offering for the first half of the season.
Once HLB became endemic in Florida, navels suffered greatly. Trees generally appeared better than average, but fruit set and quality suffered, and drop was heavy. Hamlin had its own problems and didn’t have the consumer appeal of the navel. HLB tolerance necessitated a shift in focus in the field and research community. Grower emphasis was placed on tolerance, fruit set and production more than actual varietal characteristics.
Today, another shift in perspective is being seen. Oxytetracycline trunk injection is showing positive results across production areas. Other tools to manage HLB in new and mature trees likely offer enough hope that varietal traits are again a topic of conversation. In a way, this is clear evidence of conservative optimism. We are not out of the woods yet. We may not even see the tree line, but we seem more confident that it’s there.
So, what are growers asking for?
GRAPEFRUIT
For grapefruit, existing varieties, when grown on healthy trees, are world class. They offer fantastic flavor, great juice content, enviable acid levels and sweet tangy flavor. HLB management strategies and tools will improve growers’ ability to produce the mainstay varieties of grapefruit while breeders continue to develop varieties with better color, size and tolerance.
MANDARIN
For mandarins, there is a clear-cut set of desired traits:
- Marketable size that will run in a typical packinghouse line
- Peel color that will develop in a warm fall
- Easy peel
- Good segment integrity
- Good disease tolerance that can be enhanced with modern tools
- Productivity
- Something that doesn’t have to be clipped
- Firmness that will help fruit make it to market
ORANGE
Thankfully, all the great work in recent years to develop orange-like hybrids for the juice stream will produce fresh market options to help Florida improve its footing in the retail produce space. Growers need:
- Something that will be perceived as an orange with orange-like flavor
- Strong base tolerance that can be improved with modern tools
- Perhaps not zipper-skin, but peelable. Hopefully, it will be better than a Florida navel.
- Florida oranges won’t generally win a beauty contest, but they had better have a winning personality. In the fruit world, this means consistent mind-blowing flavor and color.
- Firmness to get to market (If it can also hold up in a cannery trailer, that’s all the better.)
- Strong production. Growers need to see branches bending low with fruit load.
- Seedless or very low seeded. The competition from other states and countries will be seedless or low-seeded. Florida had better join the party.
- Size. We need to replace 125s, 138s and 156s by going back to 64s, 80s and 100s. This will also improve efficiency of harvesting.
- A long maturity window, or multiple varieties to provide a traditional window
It’s great to be having these conversations again. It’s a step in the right direction. It bears mentioning that current oranges will continue to have a place. Florida round oranges have a loyal clientele and are great for chunking, juicing, sectioning, etc. Having an offering of traditional rounds and new options would bode well for the future. Stay tuned.
Peter Chaires is executive director of NVDMC.
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