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Copyright 2005, Board of Trustees, University
of Florida

Daniel S. Tiiiey

Economic information
Report 53

Estimated Costs of Picking and
Hauling Florida Citrus Fruits,

197, -75

( `-----.-

Season

Food and Resource Economics Department
Agricultural Experiment Stations
institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
University of Florida, Gainesville 32611

June 1976

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES . . . .

SUMMARY . . . . . . .

SAMPLE FIRMS . . . . .

DATA COLLECTED AND COST DISTRIBUTION PROCEDURES . .

PICKING AND HAULING COST ESTIMATES . . .

COST TRENDS . . . .

SELECTED REFERENCES . . . .

LIST OF TABLES

. 13

Table

1 Estimated average cost per box for picking and hauling
citrus fruits for fresh packing and processing, 1974-75
season . . . . . . .

2 Average cost per box for picking and hauling citrus
fruits, 25 seasons, 1950-51 to 1974-75 . . .

3 Relationship of picking and hauling cost to the per-box
price of oranges used for concentrate, 16 seasons,
1960-1975 . . . . . .

4 Index of citrus picking and hauling costs, 1960-61
through 1974-75 seasons (1960-61 1964-65 = 100) .

Page

4

7

8

9

5 Changes in the cost items that make up estimated total
picking and hauling costs for oranges, 15 seasons,
1960-61 through 1974-75 (Index = 1960-61 to 1964-65
average) . ... ... ... . 10

* *

COSTS OF PICKING AND HAULING FLORIDA CITRUS, 1974-75 ;r.c.i,

Daniel S. Tilley and Alvin H. Spurlock

SUMMARY

Florida citrus picking and hauling cost estimates for the 1974-75
season are presented. Data used to develop the estimates were collected
from 21 citrus handling firms.
Orange picking and roadsiding costs in the 1974-75 season were 84
cents per box--a decrease of about 8 percent from the figure estimated
for the 1973-74 season. Grapefruit and tangerine picking and roadsiding
costs were estimated to be 68 and 158 cents per box.
Hauling costs for all types of fruit were estimated to be 15 cents
per box, a 2 percent decrease from 1973-74 levels.
Total citrus picking and hauling costs declined somewhat in 1974-75
but were higher than in any preceding season except 1973-74. Total
picking and hauling cost estimates for oranges and grapefruit were lower
by 7 and 2 percent respectively from 1973-74 season estimates, and tan-
gerines were the same. Picking labor cost decreases accounted for the
largest share of the total decrease.

SAMPLE FIRMS

Estimates of the cost of picking, roadsiding and hauling oranges,
grapefruit and tangerines were developed by summarizing accounting
records available from 21 citrus handling firms. Of the 21 firms in
the sample, 19 were located in the Interior and two were located in

DANIEL S. TILLEY is assistant professor of food and resource
economics, and ALVIN H. SPURLOCK is emeritus professor of food and
resource economics.

the Indian River area. Four of the firms were independent citrus
dealers and 17 were packinghouses and/or processors. The larger firms
in the sample handled fruit from throughout the citrus-producing regions.
The five firms with the largest picking volume in the sample were
responsible for 57 percent of the total boxes of fruit represented in
the sample. The five firms with the largest hauling volume in the
sample accounted for 51 percent of the fruit represented in the sample.
On the other hand, the five firms with the lowest picking volume
accounted for only 6 percent of the fruit represented in the sample,
and the five firms with the lowest hauling volume accounted for only
5 percent of the fruit represented in the sample.
Picking cost information was available on 35 million boxes of
fruit, or approximately 15 percent of total Florida production [4, p.
6]. Hauling cost information was available on 49 million boxes of
fruit, or approximately 21 percent of total Florida production [4, p. 6].
Picking cost information was provided on an average of 1.8 million
boxes per firm and hauling cost information was provided on an average
of 2.3 million boxes per firm. Four firms provided data on less than
0.6 million boxes while ten firms provided data on over 2 million boxes.
Most firms contracted with other operators to pick and haul some
of their total volume. The costs of contract crews, if data pertaining
to them could be separated, were not included because it was difficult
to determine the services performed, the kind of fruit and the number
of boxes hauled. However, in many firms, costs for contracting were
inseparably mixed with the information on services performed by firms'
own crews; hence, the averages represent total costs for all labor and
equipment.

DATA COLLECTED AND COST DISTRIBUTION PROCEDURES2

The data supplied by most firms in the sample were accounting
information from their auditors' reports. Some auditors' reports

Some firms were responsible for picking and hauling more fruit
than was represented in the sample.

The procedures described are the same as those described by Tilley
[5].

provided cost information for picking and a separate series of costs
for hauling. Other auditors' reports included only the combined costs
of picking and hauling. Only three firms in the sample provi ',- infor-
mation by type of fruit. For those firms providing only to:al' dollar
amounts for each expense item for picking, roadsiding and hailing oper-
ations, it was first necessary to determine how much of each expense
item should be allocated to picking and to hauling. Then it was neces-
sary to allocate picking expenses among types of fruit. It was assumed
that hauling cost per box does not vary by type of fruit hauled.
In general, the allocations of expenses between picking and hauling
and among types of fruit are based on personal knowledge of a firm's
operation or on information provided by other firms in the sample,
Quite often it was also necessary to separate a total labor figure into
the five labor categories shown in the following tables. None of the
sample firms provided information in a form comparable with that shown
in Table 1. Therefore, the validity of the comparisons among types of
fruit depends on information provided by the firms that do provide
comparisons.
It has been documented that distance [2], hauling method [ij, truck
size [1] and other factors affect picking and hauling costs. The data
used to develop the averages presented in this report were not provided
in sufficient detail to analyze the effects of these factors on total
picking and hauling cost because the auditor's report for each firm
summarizes the cost results for a variety of distances, hauling methods
and truck sizes. Also, fruit delivered to processors is handled dif-
ferently than fruit delivered to packinghouses. It is not known if the
sample firms properly represent the industry distribution of type of
fruit by method or destination.
Picking costs include all amounts paid for direct labor for picking
and delivery to the roadside, field truck and tractor expense, and a
portion of overhead and administrative expenses. Picking labor costs,
when not available by type of fruit, were allocated to the various types
of fruit by estimated piece rates. Fuel and repairs were allocated
equally per box for all kinds of fruit picked. Certain other expenses,
which do not fluctuate directly with changes in volume, were distributed
such that the per-box costs would be in the ratio of 1.00 for grapefruit,

Table 1.--Estimated average cost per box for picking and hauling citrus fruits for fresh
packing and processing, 1974-75 season

Service performed and commodity

Item of cost

Picking

to
Oran Grape- Tanigr-
an fruit ne plant
fruit ines

Hauling Total pick & haul
Hauling

rgs Grape-
Oranges

Nu:'ber of operators 19 19 18 21 rui_ ines
Average volume 1,262,451 379,512 78,784 2,327,279

-Cents er ox - - -

Labor
Supervisorya 5.55
Pickers 51.87
Loaders & drivers 3.84
Secl:-drivers --
Other Labor 1.24
Subtotal b 62.50
Payroll taxes 7.09
Total labor 69.59
Other Costs
Tuel & oil 2.07
Repairs & maintenance 4.83
Licenses & taxes .18
Depreciation 2.11
Insurance .49
Supplies .59
Equipment rental .39
Migratory labor expense .27
Miscellaneous .27
Administrative 3.37
Total other costs 14.57
Total costs 84.16

Range in costs--low 65.71
--hi g 95.12
Standard deviation 8.75

6.84
38.54
3.81

1.00
50.19
5.72
55.91

1.93
4.65
.12
1.60
.37
.37
.33
.12
.22
2,32
12.03
67.94

51.80
79.70
7.47

11.89
104. 19
8.18

.78
125.04
14.01
139.05

2.01
4.56
.32
4.21
.90
.74
.48
.41
.52
5.03
19.18
158.23

.04

4.01
.56
4.61
.54
5.15

1.80
3.50
.60
2.22
.45
.05
.28

.20
1.11
10.21
15.36

128.83 10.25
193.80 22.65
19.40 2.96

aIncludes foremen.

Also includes workmen's compensation.

CIncludes management and office salaries, office supplies, auto, travel and entertain-
ment, interest paid, legal and audit, advertising, dues and subscriptions, donations and
telephone and telegraph.

A range of one standard deviation above and below the mean usually includes about two-
thirds of the observations. Ninety-five percent of the firms are within the range of two
standard deviations from the mean.

Tange r-

5.59
51.87
3.84
4.01
1.80
67.11
7.63
74.74

3.87
8.33
.78
4.33
.94
.64
.67
.27
.47
4.48
24_ 78
99.52

75.96
115,15
10.47

6.88
38.54
3.81
4.01
1.56
54.80
6.26
61.06

3.73
8.15
.72
3.82
.82
.42
.61
.12
.42
3.43
22.24
83.30

62.80
99.73
9.23

11.93
104.19
8.18
4.01
1.34
129.65
14.55
144.20

3.81
8.06
.92
6.43
1.35
.79
.76
.41
.72
6.14
29.39
173.59

147.69
212.07
20.32

1.50 for oranges and 3.00 for tangerines. Expenses in this group
include licenses and taxes, depreciation, insurance, miscellaneous
items and administrative expense.

PICKING AND HAULING COST ESTIMATES

Picking and loading refers to all activities involved in getting
the fruit from the tree to roadside. Itemized average picking costs
per box for oranges, grapefruit and tangerines and hauling costs are
shown in Table 1. The numbers reported in the tables are calculated by
summing the total dollars spent for each item by the sample firms and
dividing by the total boxes of fruit harvested by the sample firms
(i.e., the averages are weighted averages where the weights are the
number of boxes picked by the firms).
Buyers' salaries, commissions and expenses for fruit procurement
and sale are omitted. Costs such as telephone and auto expenses, which
are associated with selling as well as harvesting operations, are diffi-
cult to assign to specific operations and may still be included in the
information obtained from a few firms.
The largest item in the cost of picking citrus is labor. All labor
including payroll taxes and workmen's compensation insurance was 82 per-
cent of the total cost of picking and loading oranges and grapefruit
and 88 percent for tangerines. The amount paid the fruit picker was
more than three-fourths of the labor cost. Total picking cost in
1974-75 declined from the previous season by 7.6 percent for oranges
and 2.1 percent for grapefruit. Tangerine picking cost remained almost
the same.
The hauling operation refers to the transportation of fruit from
the roadside to the processing plant or fresh packinghouse. Labor, in-
cluding payroll taxes and workmen'.s compensation insurance accounted
for 34 percent of the total hauling cost. Other items of cost were
repairs 23 percent, depreciation 14 percent, fuel 12 percent and admin-
istration 7 percent. Hauling cost for 1974-75 declined 1.9 percent
from the previous season.
The combined picking and hauling costs for 1974-75, shown in Table
1, were obtained by adding the picking cost for each type of fruit to

the hauling cost. Labor costs accounted for 75, 73 and 85 percent of
total picking and hauling costs for oranges, grapefruit and tangerines
respectively.

COST TRENDS

Citrus picking and hauling costs declined in the 1974-75 season
from the preceding season--which was the highest for which data are
available (Table 2). Total picking and hauling costs for oranges and
grapefruit decreased 6.8 and 2.0 percent, respectively, from the 1973-74
season costs; and tangerine costs remained the same. Some of the season-
to-season variation in cost for each service is due to change in the
firms in the sample. However, as shown in Table 2, the long-term trend
shows that costs have increased almost steadily over the past 18 seasons
before 1974-75.
Also, orange picking and hauling costs have increased relative to
the delivered-in value of oranges. Table 3 shows the relationship be-
tween picking and hauling cost and the per-box delivered-in price of
oranges reported by the Florida Canners Association. During the first
five seasons reported in Table 3, picking and hauling costs averaged
16.6 percent of the per-box delivered-in price of oranges. During the
last five-year period, picking and hauling costs averaged 38.0 percent
of the delivered-in price for a box of oranges used in concentrate.
In the 1974-75 season, picking and hauling costs represented 41 percent
of the delivered-in value of fruit.
Table 4 shows show total picking and hauling costs have changed
compared with the average reported figure for the 1960-61 through
1964-65 seasons--the base period. With few exceptions, the increases
for all types of fruit have been very steady. For the 1974-75 season,
orange and grapefruit picking and.hauling costs are about twice the
levels during the base period, while tangerine costs are estimated to
be 1.7 times the average level reported during the base period.
Table 5 shows how the components of total orange picking and
hauling costs have changed in absolute magnitude and relative to their
base-period levels. Note that picking labor, the largest component,
has shown the greatest increase relative to the base period. While

Table 2.--Average cost per box for picking and
25 seasons, 1950-51 to 1974-75

hauling citrus fruits,

Total picking,
Picking & loading loading & hauling
Season Sample Haul- loading
Season
firms ing Grape- Tanger- Grape- Tanger-
Orangesfu Oranges is
fruit ines fruit ie

1950-51
1951-52
1952-53
1953-54
1954-55
1955-56
1956-57
1957-58
1958-59
1959-60
1960-61
1961-62
1962-63
.1963-64
1964-65
1965-66
1966-67
1967-68
1968-69
1969-70
1970-71
1971-72
1972-73
1973-74
1974-75

No.
9
26
29
37
36
36
34
34
32
33
37
33
32
30
29
27
29
29
29
26
29
25
23
25
21

-- - Cents per

10.31
9.81
9.71
9.61
9.38
9.47
9.27
11.31
11.46
11.23
11.17
10.41
12.94
13.73
11.66
11.96
10.74
13.32
11.98
13.18
13,04
13.61
14.70
15.66
15.36

28.36
28.42
29.12
28.87
28.93
30.52
31.36
33.30
33.30
34.17
34.96
33.79
39.57
43.04
43.43
46.12
46.25
54.09
57.77
61.12
64.86
70.86
82.16
91.08
84.16

18.62
19.51
21.98
20.58
20.91
21.73
23.46
24.09
24.16
25.16
26.69
25.75
28.32
31.47
33.08
37.77
37.65
41.45
42.99
46.98
48.61
52.41
59.11
69.37
67.94

56.93
61.93
59.62
60.86
64.72
66.39
73.96
75.53
74.90
83.68
83.53
81.66
95.97
100.71
102.63
107.47
113.47
118.46
120.55
129.82
134.51
140.46
147.15
158.09
158.23

box -
38.67
38.23
38.83
38.48
38.31
39.99
40.63
44.61
44.76
45.40
46.13
44.20
52.51
56.77
55.09
58.08
56.99
67.41
69.75
74.30
77.90
84.47
98.86
106.74
99.52

28.93
29.32
31.69
30.19
30.29
31.20
32.73
35.40
35.62
36.39
37.86
36.16
41.26
45.20
44.74
49.73
48.39
54.77
54.97
60.16
61.65
66.02
73.81
85.03
83.30

67.24
71.74
69.33
70.47
74.10
75.86
83.23
86.84
86.36
94.91
94.70
92.07
108.91
114.44
114.29
119.43
124.21
131.78
132.53
143.00
147.55
154.07
161.85
173.75
173.59

aData for seasons prior to 1974-75 are from Tilley [5].

Table 3.--Relationship of picking and hauling cost to the per-box
price of oranges used for concentrate, 16 seasons, 1960-1975

Delivered-in Estimated per Picking and
Season ending per box price box pick and hauling cost as
in July for oranges used haul costbfor a percentage of
(col. 1) for concentrate oranges delivered-in price
(col. 2) (col. 3) (col. 4)

Dollars per box Percent
1960 2.54 .45 18
1961 3.47 .46 13
1962 2.26 .44 19
1963 2.71 .56 21
1964 5.25 .57 11
1965 3.37 .55 16
1966 2.28 .58 25
1967 1.29 .57 44
1968 2.76 .67 24
1969 2.70 .70 26
1970 1.94 .74 38
1971 2.07 .78 38
1972 2.91 .84 29
1973 2.36 .97 41
1974 2.58 1.07 41
1975 2.41 1.00 41

p[3, p. 10A].

From Table 1.

CCol. 4 (col. 3 + col. 2) X 100.

Table 4.--Index of citrus picking and hauling costs, 1960-61 through
1974-75 seasons (1960-61 1964-65 = 100)

Total picking, loading and hauling
Season index for

Oranges Grapefruit Tangerines

1960-61

1961-62

1962-63

1963-64

1964-65

1965-66

1966-67

1967-68

1968-69

1969-70

1970-71

1971-72

1972-73

1973-74

1974-75

91

87

103

Index -

92

88

101

110

109

121

118

133

134

147

150

161

180

207

203

Table 5.--Changes in the cost items that make up estimated total
picking and hauling costs for oranges, 15 seasons, 1960-61
through 1974-75 (Index = 1960-61 to 1964-65 average)

Season Picking labor

c/box Inde;

1960-61 18.90 85

1961-62 19.64 88

1962-63 22.50 101

1963-64 24.24 109

1964-65 26.38 118

1965-66 28.54 128

1966-67 29,53 132

1967-68 33.42 150

1968-69 37.51 168

1969-70 38.54 173

1970-71 38.70 173

1971-72 40.92 183

1972-73 52.60 236

1973-74 57.86 259

1974-75 51.87 232

Other labor

C/box

12.52

12. 17

13.29

14.17

13.35

14.43

13. 79

36.96

15.69

17.00

17.99

22.34

22.00

23.10

22.87

Index

96

93

101

108

102

110

105

129

120

130

137

171

1.68

176

1.75

Fuel, oil,
repairs,
depreciation

C/box

8.37

7.56

9.98

10.33

9.72

9.88

8.42

10.88

10.82

12.32

12.75

13.38

15.06

1.6.57

16.53

Index

91

82

109

11.2

106

-107

92

118

118

134

139

146

164

180

180

Administrative
and other

C/box

6.34

4.83

6.74

8.03

5.64

5.23

5.25

6.15

5.73

6.44

8.'46

7.83

7.20

9.21

8.25

Index

100

76

107

127

89

83

83

97

91

102

134

124

114

146

131

aIncludes supervisory, loaders, drivers, semi-drivers, miscellaneous
and payroll taxes and workmen's compensation.

Includes licenses, taxes, insurance, supplies, equipment rental,
migratory labor expense and miscellaneous costs.

11

Table 4 shows that total picking and hauling costs for oranges in
1974-75 were 195 percent of the base-period level, picking labor has
increased to 232 percent of the average in the base period. From the
1960-61 period, total picking and hauling costs for oranges are esti-
mated to have increased 53.39 cents and picking labor costs have in-
creased 32.97 cents; that is, 62 percent of the increase is accounted
for by picking labor cost increases. Labor costs have increased rela-
tively more than any other component and also account for a major share
of the total absolute increase.

SELECTED REFERENCES

[l n- .., Earl X-, 1, i, Sourlock, Scott Hedden and William Grierson.
i *oderni. -lj I;z" S"ystems for Florida Citrus from Picking
to Packing Lini, USDA Marketing Research Report No. 914.
ashincgon: U.n Government Printing Office, December 1971,

[21 Chern, Wen-Shyong. "Diterwmincation of the Optimal Number, Size and
Location ofr Oraige F asking and Processing Plants in Florida."
U published H.. chesis. University of Florida, Gainesville,

[31 Floridi C.an,:rs A.ss:or.J-cio-n Statistical Summary, 1974-75 Season.

[4] Floiida Division of '_uii: tad Vegetable Inspection. 1974-75 Season.
_.nal._;/. ionta Wir Haven: 1975.

[5] Tilley, Dane S. Estimated Costs of Picking and Hauling Florida
Cit-" Fu:ts.. '', Season Food and Resource Economics
Departmoni. Economic m information Report 27. Gainesville:
University of Florida, May 1975.

	Historic note
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