October 28, 2009

Final Numbers for Mechanically Harvested Acres and Boxes for the 2008-09 Season

The Florida Department of Citrus announced during the October Harvesting Research Council meeting that the 2008-09 citrus harvesting season indicated progress in the growth of mechanical harvesting. Mechanically harvested acreage increased by 10%. In 2008-2009, 35,600 acres were mechanically harvested as opposed to 32,500 acres in 2007-08. Total boxes harvested by mechanical systems, however, decreased 1%, collecting 9.5 million boxes during the 2008-09 season as opposed to 9.6 million boxes mechanically harvested in 2007-08. To see a graph of mechanically harvested acreage since 1999, please click on the link under "Site Updates."

Harvest Debris Study

Reducing harvesting debris is one of the primary objectives for the IFAS Citrus Mechanical Harvesting team during the 2009-2010 Season. As part of this objective a survey is being conducted to estimate the costs associated with handling harvest debris being delivered to Florida citrus processing plants. During the months of May and June Dr. Fritz Roka met with six processing plants to get their input as to what information would be important to collect in this survey. From these meetings a survey was create and distributed with the help of the Florida Citrus Processor’s Association.

What's Shakin' Archive