About Dundee Citrus Growers Association

Our story begins in 1924 when the founding grower-members decided to market their fruit collectively rather than individually. Several other area growers before them had done this, so before the first meeting was adjourned on April 21, 1924, bylaws were adopted for the new Dundee Citrus Growers Association. Today Dundee Citrus Growers Association (Dundee CGA) has grown into one of the largest fresh fruit cooperatives in the Florida Citrus Industry. A consistent leader in volume, Dundee CGA harvests over 18 different commercial varieties of citrus from 10,000 plus member acres located throughout Florida. We offer one-stop availability with two of the most technologically advanced fresh fruit packinghouses in the state. The combined cooler capacity alone is over 1.5 million cubic feet. Our fresh grapefruit, oranges and tangerines are marketed by Florida Classic Growers and are destined for major retailers, wholesalers and foodservice distributors all over the world. In addition, we also harvest fresh citrus that is squeezed into juice. That juice is either destined for processing into FCOJ (frozen concentrated orange juice) or NFC (not-from-concentrate) as Dundee CGA is also a member of Florida’s Natural Growers.

 

 

Long before our grower-members formed their association, citrus was a well-established crop in Polk County, Florida. Many commercial growers started out small on farm or grove-based homesteads. Oftentimes only a small number of trees were planted around the homestead and after harvest, the fruit was sold by the piece. Growers counted trees rather than acres and individual oranges rather than boxes. Polk County quickly grew to the position of being called the Citrus Center and it produced more citrus than the states of California and Arizona combined.

 

In April of 1999, the citrus grower associations of Dundee, Lake Wales and Winter Haven announced a landmark consolidation of their organizations. In 2004 Lake Region Packing joined as the newest member of Dundee Citrus Growers Association. This consolidation created an organization positioned to better serve the growers, marketer and consumer through increased efficiency while providing access to quality citrus.