Agriculture in Southwest Florida: Vegetables
Fresh market vegetables are big business in southwest Florida.
Some of the major vegetables grown are tomatoes, green peppers, watermelons, potatoes,
and squash. Southwest Florida helps provide most of the fresh vegetables enjoyed
by Americans during the winter months from November through April. Vegetable production
generates revenues in excess of $300 million annually. Southwest Florida is considered
“District 3.” District 3 is comprised of Charlotte, Collier, Hendry, Lee and Monroe
Counties. Glades County is not considered part of this district.
SW Florida Vegetable Acres and Production Costs*
|
Acres |
Expected Yield (Units) |
Ttl. Cost $/Acre |
| Tomato, round |
20,000 |
1,500 25-ctn |
17,489.50 |
| Watermelon |
13,000 |
340 cwt |
4,979.21 |
| Bush Beans |
13,000 |
225 bu |
4,310.00 |
| Bell pepper |
7,000 |
1,000 28-lb |
18,526.98 |
| Potatoes |
4,500 |
200 cwt |
4,148 |
| Sweet corn |
3,000 |
250 42-lb |
5,325.00 |
| Squash and zucchini |
2,500 |
300 42-lb |
4,750.00 |
| Cucumbers |
1,500 |
600 55-lb |
6,044.42 |
| Eggplant |
1,200 |
1,400 33-lb |
12,150.00 |
| *Source: Ozores-Hampton, McAvoy, Roka, van Sickle, and Smith,
2009. |
Round Tomato Shipments Over the Past 10 Years, District 3 and All of Florida
Information provided by Florida Tomato Committee
Round Tomato Prices Over the Past 10 Years, District 3 and All of Florida
Information provided by Florida Tomato Committee
Publications
S.A. Smith & T.G. Taylor, University of Florida, IFAS, FRE 145, 2007
Costs of production are reported for eleven vegetable crops produced in Southwest
production areas in Florida for the 2005-2006 season. Combinations are presented
along with net return analyses. Labor and machinery cost breakdowns by operation
are detailed in the appendix.
R.M. Muchovej, E.A. Hanlon, M. Ozores-Hampton, F.M. Roka, S. Shukla, H. Yamataki,
and K. Cushman, University of Florida, IFAS, SL-233, 2008
This document integrates information that was presented at the Sand Land Workshop,
2003, dealing with vegetable production on mineral soils of southwest Florida. The
intent of this document is to review those challenges facing vegetable growers dealing
with soils, water management, and nutrients. Certain available strategies are evolving
to efficiently produce vegetables in southwest Florida on variable mineral soils
and are reviewed herein.
Eric Simonne, Monica Ozores-Hampton, Ramon Littell, Kent Cushman, Fritz Roka, Phil
Stansly, Sanjay Shukla, Pam Roberts, Kelly Morgan, Thomas Obreza, Gene McAvoy, Phyllis
Gilreath, and Darrin Parmenter, 2007. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. Vol. 120.
This paper was written for the 2007 FSHS meetings. The objectives of this study
were to conduct retrospective and prospective power analyses of published results
from on-farm trials with tomatoes and determine the number of replications needed
for each trial to achieve a .80.
Monica Ozores-Hampton, Eric Simonne, Phyllis Gilreath, Steven Sargent, Daniel C.
McClure, Thomas Wilkes, Eugene McAvoy, Phil Stansly, Sanjay Shukla, Pam Roberts,
Fritz Roka, Tom Obreza, Kent Cushman, and Darrin Parmenter, 2007. Proc. Fla. State
Hort. Soc. Vol. 120.
This study, reported at the 2007 FSHS meetings, disusses the assessment of the contribution
of non-fertilizer N sources on tomato grown with seepage irrigation and reclaimed
water. As reclaimed water can contain up to 9.9 ppm of nitrate-nitrogen, it may
be a source of N that should be counted in the fertilization programs of seepage-irrigated
tomato.
Stephen M. Olson, Eric Simonne, et al. 2009
Links