Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Expanding Passion Fruit Production in Florida

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is an emerging alternative crop that has significant growth potential to generate profitability for farms of any size, and benefit consumers with high-quality Florida-grown produce. Currently, passion fruit production in Florida is mainly limited to South Florida. First-time commercial production in Central and North-Central Florida began in 2020. As of 2023 production in these regions has expanded to 11 small farms. Presently, most of these farms are producing passion fruit on acreage ranging from ¼ - 2 acres. In order for sustainable passion fruit production and expansion to occur, there are several significant barriers to overcome. The first barrier is the grower adoption of passion fruit production. The second barrier is establishing effective and sustainable crop production methods. The third barrier is evaluating consumer preferences and effective marketing of passion fruit. Funding for this ongoing research has been provided by a SEEDIT and SARE grant.