However, consumers will be happy to know that these melons should be readily available for the July Fourth Independence Day celebrations, said Maynard. Across the country, three billion pounds of watermelon is consumed each year. USDA figures show that in 1995, Florida growers produced 825 million pounds of watermelons on 33,000 harvested acres around the state, Watson said. With improved techniques for sanitation, cutting, temperature control and innovative packaging, consumers may soon find freshcut watermelons lasting up to a week longer while still a healthy, affordable and convenient product, Sargent said. By developing a new series of handling and packaging techniques, growers will see watermelon sales stimulated, retailers will see higher returns and consumers will get convenience in a high quality, more consistent product.
Watermelons have lots of vitamin C and no fat, so they fit perfectly into a consumer's healthy diet.
With new packaging methods, people can see exactly what they're getting, and it will last much longer. Seedless watermelon varieties appear to be better suited for freshcut use because they have a longer shelf life than seeded melons. Seedless watermelons also provide growers with a higher yield per acre and are a better tasting, sweeter melon than their seeded counterparts, Gray said. But these days, consumers will find that the availability of seedless melons is limited in commercial markets, primarily because of the high costs incurred by growers to plant this type of watermelon. Gray said research on cell culture for seedless melons is nearly complete, and seed costs should be declining soon to more acceptable levels for growers.