TALLAHASSEE — Florida citrus growers are doubling domestic fresh fruit marketing as the industry works to recover from destructive winter freezes.
The Bartow-based Florida Citrus Commission on Wednesday agreed to put $184,000 toward supporting fresh citrus production.
“Know that we’re working hard to make sure that everybody is taken care of,” said commission Chairman Steve Johnson, owner of Johnson Harvesting in Wauchula.
The funding for fresh orange and grapefruit promotions brings the total funding to market fresh citrus production this fiscal year to $353,000; the year ends June 30. The extra funding is expected to expand advertising at airports and Major League Baseball spring training stadiums, and fund digital ads and partnerships with grapefruit influencers.
Most of Florida’s orange production is processed into juice.
“We are still going to be primarily a juice state, versus a California that is primarily a fresh fruit state,” Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner told the News Service of Florida. “But there’s a value add where we can move more of our fruit into the fresh market and not send quite as much to the processing plants.”
The Department of Citrus move comes as growers and packers call to expand fresh citrus distribution into domestic markets and to back off participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture overseas export program.
The already struggling industry suffered an estimated $675 million in losses to fruit and trees from the winter storms that swept across the state in January. A report from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stated the industry faces a multi-year average productivity loss of 27 percent per year.
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The losses were just part of the $3.17 billion hit that Florida agriculture overall took from the two winter storms, according to DACS. Sugarcane farmers reported $1.15 billion in losses that will go beyond the current season, while strawberry growers had $306 million in damages, sweet corn growers saw $255 million in losses and greenhouses and nurseries suffered around $240 million in losses.
The freeze came as the citrus industry was already looking at projections for the 2025-2026 harvest that were down slightly from the historic lows of the 2024-2025 crop.
The USDA forecast that Florida will produce 12 million boxes of oranges, down from 12.2 million during the 2024-2025 season. The same forecast estimates Florida will produce 1.2 million boxes of grapefruit, down from 1.3 million in 2024-2025.
Specialty crops, which include tangerines and tangelos are set to match the 400,000 boxes produced last season, while lemon production is forecast to grow from 670,000 boxes to 700,000 boxes.
As the commission prepares its budget for the next fiscal year, it intends to base the per-box tax collections on growers on 10 million boxes of oranges and 1.1 million boxes of grapefruit.
The Legislature concluded its regular session last week without a state budget, and citrus funding will be among the topics when lawmakers are expected to return in mid-April.
The Senate, headed by President Ben Albritton, a Republican citrus grower from Wauchula, proposed $204.5 million for citrus research, mostly focused on devastating citrus greening disease. The Senate also proposed $2 million for citrus recovery programs, $4.2 million for the Citrus Health Response Program, $5 million for Department of Citrus advertising and $10 million for citrus nursing and packing house infrastructure.
The House offered $4 million for research, $2 million for citrus recovery programs and $5 million for the Citrus Health Response Program.
Other stories you may want to read:
- Citrus Commission Boosts Fresh Fruit Marketing - March 18, 2026