Florida Department of Citrus executive director Bob Crawford told a meeting of citrus growers that their industry should experience a surge over the next five years, the Lakeland Ledger reported.

Speaking in Winter Haven last month, Crawford said citrus disease problems in Brazil and research advances in Florida may help change growers' fortunes.

Brazil, the largest producer of oranges and exporter of frozen concentrate juice in the world, is suffering from citrus canker and tristeza which have ravaged an estimated 30 per cent of plantations in the country. A decrease in production there should boost prices and fortunes for Florida growers.

Meanwhile, the FDOC has developed a machine which can peel and slice citrus fruit into sections. It is hoped this will create a new market niche in retail outlets for fresh, prepared fruit. Researchers in the state have long sought to develop cost-effective prepared citrus, but until now, peeled and sliced fresh citrus has been too expensive to be marketable.

The department has signed a deal with Del Monte Fresh Produce, which will have exclusive use of the machine for 10 years and is already planning to install it in its new fresh-fruit preparation plant in the US.

Crawford was also reported to be hopeful of burgeoning trade with China since the market opened to US fruit in 1999. Grapefruit is seen as having the most export potential to the world's most populous country.

And in a separate report in the Ledger, a new citrus hybrid developed by US department of agriculture scientists in Florida may also prove a boost to the state's citrus growers.

USDA 77-19, also known as tangelolo, is a tangelo-grapefruit hybrid and was first bred at a USDA lab in 1965. Tangelo is itself a tangerine-grapefruit cross.

Trees developed under the programme were ignored for a number of years, but now USDA plant breeder José Chaparro, who resurrected the project, believes the fruit could have a place on the market. It would fill a niche to help Florida growers compete on international grapefruit markets in early autumn as it is a mildly sweet fruit, which comes to maturity in September before ordinary grapefruit.

It is the same size and colour as grapefruit, but is not bitter, not even the pith. Chaparro believes it could help revitalise the grapefruit category which has suffered in recent years as consumers have preferred sweeter citrus varieties.

If breeders can get USDA approval, plant material could be released as early as next year, which could mean the availability of commercial crops by the end of the decade.

Topics