USDA to Buy $20 Million in Oranges and Grapefruit as Florida Citrus Growers Face Shrinking Harvest

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy $20 million worth of oranges and grapefruit for federal food assistance programs, a move Florida citrus growers welcomed as their industry braces for one of its smallest harvests in nearly a century. The purchase, announced Oct. 29, splits evenly between $10 million in oranges and $10 million in grapefruit, according to industry groups and Florida Politics.

The citrus buy is part of a much larger plan by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to purchase up to $472.5 million in American-grown food for food banks and other nutrition programs. For Florida, where USDA forecasters expect orange production to drop 23 percent this season, the federal order offers a guaranteed buyer for a slice of the crop.

What USDA announced

The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service posted a notice dated Oct. 29 saying it plans to purchase chicken, dairy, fish, fruit, pork, pulses, rice and tree nut products for distribution to food nutrition assistance programs. Grapefruit and oranges are listed under fruit, alongside raisins and a dried fruit mix. The purchases will be made under Section 32 of a 1935 federal farm law, which allows the department to buy surplus commodities to support farmers when markets are out of balance.

The notice says solicitations will be issued "in the near future" through the agency's Web-Based Supply Chain Management system, and that anything purchased must be grown, processed and prepared exclusively in the United States. Contracts are expected to be firm-fixed-price, with deliveries to locations around the country.

The AMS notice does not list dollar figures, but reports on the department's announcement put dairy as the largest category at $165.5 million, followed by pork at $41 million, almonds at $30 million and chicken at $20 million, alongside the $20 million for citrus. Rollins said the investment moves American milk, cheese, lentils, almonds, rice, catfish and more "straight from our farms to those in need."

Florida growers react

Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest citrus growers' trade group, applauded the decision. Its CEO, Matt Joyner, said the purchase would benefit both Florida growers and families who rely on food assistance, and he credited Rollins and the Trump administration for the support, Florida Politics reported.

The group has pressed for earlier purchases as well. When USDA announced a $30 million citrus buy in November 2025, Joyner said Florida Citrus Mutual had been working with the department for several months to make it happen.

A season of shrinking harvests

The new order comes three weeks after USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service released its first forecast for the 2026-27 season on Oct. 9. It projects Florida will produce 10 million 90-pound boxes of oranges, down 23 percent from last season. That includes 3 million boxes of early and midseason oranges, down 37 percent, and 7 million boxes of Valencias, down 14 percent.

Florida grapefruit is forecast at 1.3 million boxes, down about 4 percent, made up of 1.2 million boxes of red grapefruit and 100,000 boxes of white. Tangerines and mandarins are projected at 450,000 boxes. Industry reports attributed the decline to reduced bearing acreage, lower fruit counts and damage from last winter's freezes, on top of the long-running toll of citrus greening disease.

The following table compares Florida's last two harvests with the first forecast for the current season, using USDA figures.

Last season was a modest rebound. USDA's August citrus summary put Florida's 2025-26 all-citrus crop at 15.7 million boxes, up 7 percent from the season before, with Valencia production up 7 percent to 8.18 million boxes. Polk, Highlands, DeSoto, St. Lucie and Hardee counties produced 73 percent of the state's citrus. Even so, Florida produced well under one-tenth of the oranges it grew at its peak around the turn of the century.

Nationally, the Oct. 9 forecast puts U.S. orange production at 61.7 million boxes, down 3 percent, with California expected to grow 50.5 million boxes. The contrast underscores how far Florida has fallen behind its West Coast rival.

Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, praised growers after the forecast. "The tenacity and grit of Florida Citrus growers cannot be overstated," Shepp said, according to WINK News, adding that the industry remains a significant economic driver. Florida citrus contributes about $6 billion to the state's economy, WINK reported.

Why grapefruit matters for Florida

Grapefruit purchases carry particular weight in Florida, which remains a major source of the nation's fresh grapefruit. Most of the state's grapefruit goes to the fresh market rather than juice plants: of the 1.35 million boxes harvested in 2025-26, about 811,000 were sold fresh, according to USDA's season summary. St. Lucie and Indian River counties along the Treasure Coast, the heart of the Indian River citrus district, grew most of it.

The October notice does not say whether the oranges and grapefruit will be bought fresh or processed; those details will be spelled out in the solicitations.

A string of federal citrus buys

The Oct. 29 order is the third Section 32 citrus purchase announced in about a year. The earlier buys included mandarins, a crop dominated by California, while the latest focuses only on oranges and grapefruit.

Taken together, the three announcements total $107.5 million, including $45 million for oranges and $32.5 million for grapefruit. USDA has said such purchases help reduce excess inventory during periods of surplus, firm up market conditions and support returns for growers, while supplying food banks, schools and other nutrition programs.

What it means for Floridians

For growers in Polk, Highlands, DeSoto and other citrus counties, a federal contract offers a reliable outlet in a market squeezed by imports, falling yields and the high cost of fighting greening. For food banks and families who rely on federal nutrition programs, the purchases mean fresh fruit or juice on shelves. Because the law requires U.S.-grown product, Florida packers and shippers will compete with California and Texas for the contracts.

What's next

USDA will publish the citrus solicitations, bid deadlines and award notices through its procurement system and the Agricultural Marketing Service website in the coming weeks. The next USDA citrus production forecast is scheduled for mid-January, when growers will learn whether the 10-million-box orange estimate holds as harvest gets underway.