Indian River Grapefruit

Florida law reserves the Indian River name for grapefruit and other citrus from a statutory production area on the East Coast that takes in the Treasure Coast.

Section 601.091 of the Florida Citrus Code says that only citrus fruit grown within the boundaries of a specified production area, or processed citrus products prepared solely from such fruit, may be labeled with the name of that area or described in any way that implies it was grown there. The only exception is a final court order from a legal proceeding begun before July 1, 1976 (Florida Statutes 601.091). The Indian River area starts at the Flagler and Volusia county line, follows the St. Johns River lakes through Brevard County, turns at the southwest corner of St. Lucie County and runs south past Martin County to the West Palm Beach Canal.

Federal rules use the same name for a marketing district. The federal marketing order for Florida oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and pummelos defines Regulation Area II as the Indian River District, beginning on the Atlantic shore where the Flagler and Volusia county line meets it, and calls the rest of the production area the Interior District (7 CFR Part 905, sections 905.15 and 905.16). The same order places the County of St. Lucie, and the parts of Brevard, Indian River, Martin and Palm Beach counties inside Regulation Area II, in its Citrus District Three. The Indian River citrus district guide covers the district's history.

Last verified: October 22, 2026, by rereading, for this Treasure Coast guide, section 601.091, the federal citrus marketing order, the UF/IFAS home citrus guide, the Department of Citrus grapefruit page, the October Fresh From Florida list and both 2026 USDA citrus reports.

On the Treasure Coast, as across Florida, grapefruit runs from about November to May, and UF/IFAS lists every common variety, Marsh and Ruby Red included, as midseason fruit.

The Florida Department of Citrus says Florida grapefruit is typically in season from November to May each year (Florida Department of Citrus, Grapefruit). The UF/IFAS home landscape guide is more specific by variety: Marsh, Redblush or Ruby Red, Rio Red and Flame are listed from November to May, while Duncan, Thompson (Pink Marsh) and Star Ruby are listed from December to May (UF/IFAS Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape, HS132). The state's shopping calendar starts earlier: the October Fresh From Florida produce list published by the state agriculture department (FDACS) includes grapefruit along with oranges and tangerines (FDACS, What is in Season, October).

For a backyard grower in Fort Pierce or Vero Beach, the statewide UF/IFAS home citrus guide says grapefruit trees are very heavy yielding and keep good fruit quality for harvest over an extended period each year, so that usually a single grapefruit tree suffices, whereas several sweet orange trees may be wanted (UF/IFAS HS132). The Florida orange season guide covers the orange calendar that overlaps the grapefruit months.

UF/IFAS lists seven grapefruit varieties for Florida yards, two white fleshed (Marsh and Duncan), one pink (Thompson) and four red (Redblush or Ruby Red, Star Ruby, Rio Red and Flame), and only Duncan is listed with more than 6 seeds per fruit.

All seven rows come from Table 1 of UF/IFAS HS132, which marks all seven as susceptible to scab, greasy spot and melanose fungus diseases. UF/IFAS calls Duncan one of the best varieties for home use, its quality compensating for its seediness, and says many people prefer a red fleshed variety such as Redblush or Flame for the mix of flesh color and seedlessness. Duncan also matters to the Treasure Coast's other famous fruit: the same table lists the Minneola tangelo, sold as the Honeybell, as a cross of Duncan grapefruit and Dancy tangerine, which the Honeybell guide covers.

The federal marketing order still carries the old color names in its rules. Section 905.105 renamed pink seedless grapefruit as red seedless grapefruit and pink seeded grapefruit as red seeded grapefruit, and recast the Marsh and Duncan classes to exclude red grapefruit (7 CFR 905.105). USDA crop reports follow the same split, counting red and white grapefruit separately.

USDA counted 739 thousand boxes of grapefruit in St. Lucie County and 369 thousand in Indian River County in the 2025-2026 season, out of a Florida grapefruit crop of 1,350 thousand boxes, and most of it in both counties was red grapefruit.

The rows are read from the county production table in the USDA NASS Citrus Summary (released August 27, 2026); county production there excludes lemons, and some county grapefruit cells are withheld to avoid disclosing individual operations. The report says all grapefruit production increased 4 percent to 1.35 million boxes, and that grapefruit accounted for 9 percent of Florida citrus production, against 88 percent for oranges.

The same report splits the crop by use. Of the 2025-2026 red grapefruit crop, 760 thousand boxes went to fresh use and 490 thousand to processing; of the white crop, 51 thousand went fresh and 49 thousand to processing. The on tree price for all grapefruit was $20.51 per box in 2025-2026, against $21.91 the season before (USDA NASS Citrus Summary 2025-2026). In both counties the grapefruit figure is larger than the all orange figure in the same table, which lists 629 thousand boxes of oranges for St. Lucie and 90 thousand for Indian River.

The 2026 USDA citrus inventory puts Florida grapefruit, a statewide total that takes in the Indian River District, at 11,456 acres, down 10 percent from the previous season, most of it red seedless.

The preliminary Commercial Citrus Inventory, released in August 2026, lists 10,844 acres of red seedless grapefruit and 581 acres of white seedless in 2026, against 14,054 and 1,770 acres in 2023, with total grapefruit acreage falling from 15,887 acres in 2023 to 14,316 in 2024, 12,787 in 2025 and 11,456 in 2026 (USDA NASS Preliminary Commercial Citrus Inventory, 2026). The same table counts 1,845.6 thousand grapefruit trees in 2026. Statewide, all citrus acreage stood at 165,359 acres, down 21 percent, and the report says all 23 published counties showed decreases. The inventory gives these grapefruit acres for the state only, with no separate grapefruit column for St. Lucie or Indian River County.

The county table covers all citrus, not grapefruit alone. St. Lucie County had 17,560 acres of citrus in 2023, 16,378 in 2024, 15,210 in 2025 and 12,741 in 2026, with 1,904.4 thousand trees in 2026. Indian River County went from 8,627 acres to 7,251, 6,827 and then 6,135, with 999.2 thousand trees in 2026 (USDA NASS inventory county table).

Indian River District seedless grapefruit that a handler ships to the 48 contiguous states must grade U.S. No. 1, measure at least 3 inches across and meet a federal maturity test.

Section 905.306 sets Table I for shipments to the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia and Table II for other destinations; both list seedless grapefruit at U.S. No. 1 grade with a minimum diameter of 3 inches (7 CFR 905.306). The maturity rule says all grapefruit shipped under the order must reach 8.0 percent soluble solids (sugars) and a 7.5 to 1 solids to acid ratio, or one of the alternate combinations in Table III, and that the minimum ratio may not drop below 7.2 even when soluble solids pass 9.6. Grade terms point to the U.S. Standards for Grades of Florida Grapefruit in 7 CFR 51.750 through 51.784. Neither table has a separate line for the Indian River District.

The order is paid for by the shippers. Since August 1, 2024 the assessment rate has been $0.025 per 4/5 bushel carton or equivalent of Florida citrus covered by the order, Indian River fruit included, a rate published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2026 (7 CFR 905.235). Rules for mailing fruit out of Florida, including the citrus canker certificate, are in the guide to shipping Florida citrus.