COSTS OF PICKING AND HAULING FLORIDA
 CITRUS FRUITS, 1962-63 SEASON


 CONTENTS

 Page

 Introduction . . . . . . 1

 Costs of Picking and Hauling, 1962-63. . . .. .. 2

 Variation in Cost Among Firms. .. . . . .. 6

 Comparison of 1962-63 Costs with Previous Seasons. . ... 10





 Introduction

 This is the 13th annual summary of costs of picking and hauling

citrus fruits, prepared from a sample of citrus dealers, packinghouses,

and processors. Other handling and marketing costs in the citrus indus-

try are released in separate publications as indicated inside the back

cover.

 Costs of handling citrus fruits from the tree to the packinghouse

or processing plant for the 1962-63 season were summarized by type of

fruit for 32 firms. However, several firms did not haul fruit and sev-

eral others did not pick all the fruit hauled by their trucks. Seven of

the firms furnishing data were citrus dealers specializing in the pro-

curement, sale, and delivery of fruit to the processing plant, 22 were

principally packers of fresh fruit and 3 were processors. Most of the

dealers also contracted with other operators to pick and haul some of

their volume. Contracting with other operators to pick and haul part or

all of their volume also was common among the fresh packers and processors.