Emergency rule: Florida Citrus Commission lowers required sugar levels in fruit until May

The minimum sugar level standard for citrus fruits used in Florida orange juice was lowered for the rest of this year’s harvest during an emergency meeting Wednesday at the Florida Department of Citrus in Bartow.

The Florida Citrus Commission unanimously voted to invoke the emergency rule for oranges lowering the minimum Brix level from 8 to 7. The rule would expire on May 23.

The temporary minimum rule is expected to relieve growers who suffered extensive crop damage during the 2022-23 season because of freezes, hurricanes and the ongoing battle with citrus greening as well as accommodating the many less-mature newly planted groves of citrus trees across Florida.

The sugar levels of oranges going to the juice processors will likely be much higher than Brix 7, as the goal is between 8 and 11, according to Citrus Commission member Marty McKenna, 67, a third-generation juice orange grower from Sebring.

Further, consumers shouldn't notice a drop in the sweetness of their orange juice because oranges from multiple groves will blended together to make up for any groves containing lower sugar citrus fruits.

“Most of the loads of fruit coming in will be significantly higher than the Brix 7,” McKenna said. "What we did today will not impact the Brix level in the grocery store."

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If the Citrus Commission had not acted, growers’ fruit at the processor could have been rejected and returned at great expense to the grower, who would incur not just the cost of harvesting and hauling to the processor but a second hauling expense to take the load back to his land and dump the worthless fruit, he said.

Hurricane Ian caused an estimated $1 billion in agricultural-production losses, with the biggest economic impacts to the citrus industry, according to a report by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Ian was a Category 4 storm that traveled mostly through the densest portion of the state’s citrus growing areas in late September. It also damaged many vegetable and livestock operations.

IFAS estimated overall production losses at $1.03 billion, including $247.1 million for citrus growers, $204.6 million for vegetable and melon growers and $195.4 million for the nursery and greenhouse industry.

The citrus estimate does not include such things as downed trees, IFAS said. Additional losses in equipment for the industry were not included in the estimate.

A rough season

Florida faces the smallest orange harvest since the 1935-36 season. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a revised forecast for February, which was 11% below its January prediction.

"Despite challenges from diseases, land development trends and extreme weather, Florida’s citrus industry contributed $6.935 billion to the state’s economy in 2020-21," said Ruth Borger, at UF-IFAS in a press release announcing a new report by UF economists entitled, “2020-2021 Economic Contributions of the Florida Citrus Industry.”

Citrus juice manufacturing remains the largest factor in the overall economic contributions of the industry, IFAS said, including:

• $5.334 billion from citrus juice manufacturing.

• $1.425 billion from citrus fruit production.

• $177 million for fresh citrus marketing.

The report also said the citrus industry supports a total of 32,542 full-time and part-time jobs in Florida. Total value-added contributions, estimated at $2.841 billion, represent the industry’s contribution to Gross State Product.

Labor income contributions amounted to $1.606 billion, representing earnings by employees and business owners throughout Florida’s economy.

Christa Court, director of EIAP and assistant professor of regional economics, said the weather has been particularly bad for citrus growers in the past couple of year.

“The estimates for the 2020-21 citrus season are particularly important because it can be thought of as a baseline season prior to the multiple adverse weather-related events that the industry endured in 2022.” she said, referencing two cold snaps and two hurricanes in the main citrus-producing areas of the state across the calendar year.

State budget help proposed

In Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed budget released Feb. 1, he included more than $2.7 billion for Florida’s agricultural industry.

“In order to preserve Florida’s iconic citrus industry, the budget invests $29.4 million for citrus research and the Citrus Health Response Program,” the governor’s website said.

“This includes $15 million for the Department of Citrus for the expansion of the eCommerce and digital marketing program, which is focused on driving sales of Florida Citrus products through eCommerce partnerships with retail grocers and online shopping platforms,” the website said.

Federal help

Also on Feb. 1, Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Sunrise, and Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida introduced the Block Grant Assistance Act, a bill to ensure the U.S. Department of Agriculture can provide relief to agriculture producers devastated by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

The bill would provide the agriculture secretary the authority to provide block grants to Florida to assist producers affected by the two hurricanes. Franklin and Wasserman Schultz co-led the House version of the bill. Scott introduced the Senate version concurrently with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as a co-sponsor.

“The Florida citrus industry is synonymous with the Sunshine State and the backbone of many of our rural communities,” Franklin said in a news release. “It’s critical that we provide immediate support so Americans can continue to enjoy the staples our domestic citrus industry provides.”

Matt Joyner, president of Florida Citrus Mutual said in the release that last year's hurricanes were particularly ill-timed.

“Just as the industry was on the verge of a comeback, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole dealt us another blow," he said. "The Block Grant Assistance Act will enable Florida’s citrus growers to rebuild and replant so we can continue to harvest and produce America’s favorite breakfast juice.”

More than 90% of all Florida citrus production was impacted by tropical storms in 2022, totaling 375,302 acres. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services expects these losses to cost the industry between $416 million and $675 million.

Efforts to change the Brix standard, or the required level of sugar in juice oranges, have been made since the summer. Rubio filed a bill in June to direct the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the amount of naturally occurring sugar required in pasteurized orange juice sold in stores from 10.5% to 10%.

Since 1963, the Brix standard has been in effect and has not been modified. When juice processors cannot source FDA Brix standard oranges for juice, they look to imports to blend citrus fruits.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Citrus Commission lowers required sugar levels in fruit this season