Absolutely. Mangoes are a little different from dragon fruit and longan because Florida has a much more established mango industry, but the economics change dramatically depending on whether you sell to a packinghouse or directly to customers.
🥭 Mango Prices & Grower Economics — Central Florida, 2026
I looked at current 2026 market information, Florida direct-farm prices, global wholesale prices, and UF/IFAS’s commercial mango economics.
🇺🇸 What are mangoes selling for in Florida?
There are really three different markets to consider.
1. Commodity/packinghouse market
UF/IFAS’s commercial mango study found that South Florida growers historically received about $0.41/lb FOB at the packinghouse. The study is based on grower interviews from 2017, so I would not use $0.41 as today’s expected price, but it illustrates how much less a grower can receive when selling through conventional channels. �
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2. Wholesale market
Current Miami market reports show Florida mangoes entering wholesale channels at substantially higher prices for some categories, although pricing varies tremendously by variety and whether the fruit is intended for eating ripe or green/cooking.
For example, the July 15, 2026 Miami terminal report listed Florida green cooking mangoes at $32–$35 per 50-lb carton, or approximately:
$0.64–$0.70/lb wholesale. �
IndexBox
That’s still dramatically below what a premium specialty mango can bring.
3. Direct-to-consumer Florida mangoes
This is where things get interesting.
A Florida farm currently lists:
Classic varieties such as Tommy Atkins and Van Dyke at $35 per 25-lb box = $1.40/lb
Premium varieties at $50 per 25-lb box = $2.00/lb �
Erickson Farm
Another Florida-grown mango seller currently starts local pickup pricing at:
$6.00/lb
for Florida-grown mangoes. �
Florida Mangoes
And a farm in DeLand, Central Florida has been selling numerous specialty mango varieties at:
$9/lb
during the 2026 season—including Valencia Pride, Nam Doc Mai, Shirley, Beatrice, Orange Sherbet, Ambika, Maha Chanok, Honey Kiss, Beverly, Keitt and others. �
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That is extremely important for someone considering a small Central Florida orchard.
A specialty mango is not necessarily a commodity mango.
🌎 What are mangoes selling for around the world?
The international difference is enormous.
Current July 2026 wholesale data shows approximately:
Country
Approx. wholesale price/lb
🇮🇳 India
$0.18/lb
🇹🇭 Thailand
$0.33/lb
🇵🇰 Pakistan
$0.34/lb
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
$0.24/lb
🇨🇳 China
$0.65/lb
🇵🇭 Philippines
~$0.81/lb
🇺🇸 United States
~$1.06/lb
These are converted from July 2026 wholesale unit prices reported in dollars per kilogram. �
Tridge Insights
For comparison, the March 2026 data showed the U.S. at approximately $2.35/kg ($1.06/lb), Mexico around $1.68/kg ($0.76/lb), India about $0.67/kg ($0.31/lb), and Thailand about $0.76/kg ($0.34/lb). �
Tridge Insights
So a Central Florida grower generally cannot compete with India, Thailand or Mexico on commodity production costs.
But they don’t necessarily have to.
Florida’s advantage is freshness + specialty varieties + direct sales.
🌳 How much can a Florida mango tree produce?
UF/IFAS gives a useful benchmark:
Mature mango tree:
220–330 lb of fruit per year
with a typical mature-tree average around 275 lb under Florida conditions. �
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Grafted trees generally begin bearing around 3–5 years after planting. �
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Mango production is also highly dependent on:
cultivar
pollination
rainfall
temperature
disease
pruning
fertilization
irrigation
flowering conditions
alternate bearing
So I would never build a financial plan assuming every tree produces 330 lb every year.
📏 How many trees per acre?
The UF/IFAS commercial model used:
80 trees/acre
At an average of 275 lb/tree:
80 × 275 = 22,000 lb
After an assumed 85% pack-out, that becomes:
18,700 marketable lb/acre
That’s the benchmark UF/IFAS used for its South Florida commercial model. �
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💰 What could a Central Florida mango acre gross?
Let’s use that 18,700-lb marketable yield as a benchmark—but remember that it comes from established South Florida orchards, so Central Florida should be modeled more conservatively.
Commodity/wholesale scenarios
Selling price
18,700 lb × price
Gross/acre
$0.70/lb
18,700 × .70
$13,090
$1.00/lb

$18,700
$1.40/lb

$26,180
$2.00/lb

$37,400
$3.00/lb

$56,100
$4.00/lb

$74,800
$6.00/lb

$112,200
$9.00/lb

$168,300
Obviously, you should not assume you can sell 18,700 lb at $9/lb.
The DeLand example demonstrates that $9/lb can exist for premium specialty varieties in a direct-to-consumer market, not that every pound of a commercial orchard will command that price. �
Find Glocal
🥭 What I would realistically model for Central Florida
For a small grower, I’d use something like this:
Scenario
Marketable crop
Average selling price
Gross revenue
Conservative
8,000 lb
$1.00
$8,000
Moderate
12,000 lb
$1.50
$18,000
Good
15,000 lb
$2.00
$30,000
Strong specialty
15,000 lb
$3.00
$45,000
Excellent direct market
15,000 lb
$5.00
$75,000
Premium specialty
15,000 lb
$7.00
$105,000
These are gross sales, not profit.
And I’d be much more comfortable using the $18,000–$45,000/acre range as an initial planning range than assuming $100,000+.
📊 What does UF/IFAS say about actual profit?
This is especially useful.
UF/IFAS calculated:
18,700 marketable lb/acre
$0.41/lb packinghouse price
= $7,667 gross revenue
Estimated total production and marketing costs were $3,180/acre, resulting in:
$4,487 estimated net return/acre
or approximately $0.24/lb. �
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But there is a major warning:
That study is based on 2017 grower data.
It also specifically says the analysis is for an established orchard and does not include the cost of establishing a new orchard, which can substantially change the economics during the first several years. �
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⚠️ Central Florida is different from South Florida
This is probably the most important part for you.
Mangoes are considerably more cold-sensitive than many people realize.
South Florida has the advantage of a much longer frost-free growing environment. Central Florida can grow mangoes, but site selection and cold protection become much more important.
I’d favor:
south-facing locations
higher ground
excellent drainage
protection from north winds
proximity to buildings/ponds/other heat-retaining features
irrigation
cold-hardy cultivars where appropriate
And I’d avoid putting an entire commercial planting into one cultivar.
🌱 The BIG opportunity: specialty mangoes
This is where I think mangoes could be particularly attractive for a small Central Florida grower.
Instead of planting 80 acres of Tommy Atkins and trying to compete with Mexico, consider a diversified orchard containing varieties such as:
Maha Chanok
Nam Doc Mai
Orange Sherbet
Valencia Pride
Honey Kiss
Pickering
Zill
Beverly
Keitt
Kent
Carrie
Coconut Cream
Alphonso
The exact varieties should be selected based on your microclimate, disease pressure, harvest timing and market.
The reason is simple:
Commodity mango:
$0.50–$1.50/lb
Premium direct-market mango:
$3–$9/lb
The DeLand example is particularly interesting because it demonstrates that Central Florida customers are already paying premium prices for unusual mango cultivars. �
Find Glocal
🥭 Mango vs. Dragon Fruit vs. Longan
If you’re considering these as potential crops for Central Florida, here’s how I would initially rank them:
Crop
Potential price
Production difficulty
Direct-market opportunity
Mango
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dragon fruit
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Longan
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mango has one major advantage: people already know what it is.
You don’t have to educate the customer about the fruit.
But specialty mangoes are an entirely different product from the mangoes people buy at Walmart.
Someone who discovers an Orange Sherbet, Maha Chanok, Nam Doc Mai or Coconut Cream mango picked ripe from a Florida tree can become a repeat customer.
💡 One particularly interesting strategy for Central Florida
I wouldn’t necessarily plant an acre with 80 large trees.
For a small operation, I’d seriously investigate a high-value specialty orchard with multiple cultivars selected to spread the harvest season.
That could allow you to sell:
May → June → July → August → September
rather than having 15,000 pounds of mangoes ripen simultaneously.
Florida’s official crop calendar puts mango season roughly May through August, although cultivar and location can extend the actual harvest window. �
FDACS
That matters enormously because staggering varieties can be almost as important as yield.
Bottom line
For an established Central Florida orchard, I’d use $1–$3/lb as a conservative planning range for the average realized selling price, rather than assuming $6–$9/lb.
At 10,000–15,000 marketable pounds/acre, that gives approximately:
$10,000–$45,000 gross/acre
A well-established specialty operation with strong direct sales could potentially exceed that considerably, but I would treat those higher numbers as upside rather than the business-plan baseline.
And unlike the older UF/IFAS packinghouse model, direct-to-consumer specialty mango sales are where I see the greatest opportunity for a small Central Florida grower. �
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If you’re comparing these crops for your property, **mango may actually be the most interesting of the three once we factor in tree lifespan, startup costs, labor, freeze risk, annual yield, and the price you can realistically get per pound.**