Broccoli Production in the United States: Implications for Florida

Florida has strong potential to expand local broccoli production to meet growing consumer demand while providing additional revenue opportunities for farmers. Production, however, is constrained by the limited availability of broccoli cultivars adapted to Florida’s subtropical and tropical conditions. This publication reviews broccoli production and market trends, trade dynamics, planting windows, heat-related constraints, and commercially available cultivars. This information is relevant to Florida growers considering broccoli as a diversification crop, Extension agents, and agricultural researchers.

Florida’s Production Context

Florida spans a climatic gradient, ranging from subtropical conditions in the northern and central regions to tropical climates in the south. This diversity enables year-round production of fruits and vegetables across the state, conferring a competitive advantage over regions constrained by harsh winters. As a result, Florida plays a critical role in US food security and agricultural trade, producing an estimated 200–300 commodities (FDACS 2024). In 2022, Florida’s agriculture and food systems sectors generated approximately $387.4 billion in sales revenue and supported 2.5 million jobs, underscoring the state’s importance to national consumption and international markets (UF/IFAS FRED 2025).

Despite its production advantages, Florida presents a challenging growing environment characterized by high humidity, elevated temperatures, intense pest and disease pressure, and frequent hurricane events (National Hurricane Center 2024; UF/IFAS Extension 2025). Increasing crop diversification has been shown to mitigate production risks, enhance system resilience, and reduce economic vulnerability for growers (Lin 2011). Within this context, broccoli emerges as a promising diversification option due to its widespread consumption in the United States, rising consumer demand (USDA-ERS 2024), strong nutritional profile (Syed et al. 2023), and relatively high farm-gate prices, which can enhance grower profitability (Figure 1).

Market trends further support the economic viability of broccoli production. Since 2021, US broccoli farm prices have trended upward, offering growers higher cents per pound and incentivizing increased adoption and expansion of broccoli acreage (Figure 1). Broccoli has commanded a higher farm-gate price than romaine lettuce or tomatoes in each year since 2021. In Florida, broccoli acreage has expanded over the past two decades, from 983 acres in 2012 to 1,317 in 2017 and 2,710 in 2022 (USDA-NASS 2026).

US Broccoli Markets and Trade

US broccoli trade flows derived from USDA data indicate that, although export channels exist (Figure 2), export volumes remain minimal (approximately $25 million) (USDA-ERS 2026). In contrast, both domestic production and imports have increased to meet national demand (Figure 3). In 2024, the United States imported approximately $400 million in broccoli, primarily from Mexico (USDA-ERS 2026), while domestic production totaled approximately $1.09 billion, representing a 9% increase from the previous year (USDA-NASS 2026).

Florida Planting and Harvest Windows

In Florida, broccoli planting windows extend from September through February in northern and central regions and from October through January in south Florida, allowing for harvests throughout the winter months (Figure 4).

Heat Tolerance and Cultivar Selection

Despite this extended production potential, high temperatures remain a major constraint. Temperature spikes above 86°F (30°C) during the heading stage can result in yield losses due to head deformities (Björkman and Pearson 1998) (Figure 5). This thermal sensitivity limits the expansion of planting windows and often reduces late-season productivity, as growers may terminate broccoli crops early and transition to alternative crops to avoid potential losses.

Breeding broccoli varieties with enhanced heat tolerance offers a viable strategy to improve yield stability and support more reliable production under Florida’s subtropical and tropical conditions. Several commercial cultivars are currently marketed as “heat tolerant” and are available in commercial seed catalogs (Table 1). However, publicly available data supporting these claims are limited, and descriptions of heat tolerance are often vague and lacking quantitative thresholds or clearly defined environmental conditions under which performance was evaluated. Consequently, most of these cultivars remain recommended for winter or early spring production, and growers are advised to evaluate these varieties cautiously and adhere to UF/IFAS-recommended planting windows (Zotarelli et al. 2025).

UF/IFAS Breeding Efforts

Recognizing this challenge, UF/IFAS is advancing early-stage breeding efforts to develop broccoli varieties better adapted to Florida’s production environment while actively seeking external funding and raising awareness of the potential impact of breeding tropical- and subtropical-adapted broccoli varieties (Cabrera and Messina 2025). Current research focuses on identifying key adaptive traits, including flowering time and heat response, using modeling and artificial intelligence approaches to accelerate understanding and adaptation. This endeavor builds on foundational work from the Eastern Broccoli Project, which, in collaboration with the USDA Vegetable Breeding Laboratory in South Carolina, identified quantitative trait loci associated with heat tolerance. Advanced broccoli breeding lines are expected to be released as varieties in the near future (Branham et al. 2017; Cornell University 2025). These materials may provide near-term opportunities for Florida growers while longer-term, regionally adapted cultivars continue to be developed.

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