By Clint Thompson
North Florida watermelons continue to be harvested across the Suwanee Valley Region. It won’t be long before growers can call it a season, according to Bob Hochmuth, UF/IFAS Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida.
Various factors will impact how much longer producers will harvest this year’s crop.
“I think the market will drive a lot of that,” Hochmuth said on June 4. “I would hope that we could still get two more weeks of harvest. I’ll put it this way, there are fields with certainly two more weeks of harvesting to go if the market will allow us to continue to harvest here.”
There are uncertainties surrounding market prices every year once more states come online with their watermelon crops. Georgia growers are expected to start harvesting soon, as are farmers in the Carolinas. As more watermelons are available, that’s likely to drive down market prices. It is just a question of how much.
Hochmuth added his perspective on this year’s crop.
“I think people are happy generally with the crop. Early in these early harvests, the crop was, size-wise, a little smaller across the board. But I think overall yields and things, I think we’ve been able to grow a really, really good crop,” Hochmuth said. “But the combination of an okay price and high shipping costs have dampened some of that enthusiasm.”