UNSPSC 50304108: Volkamer lemons

The variety of lemons known as volkamer lemons

UNSPSC 50304108 Volkamer lemons is a Commodity code that spans fresh citrus fruit procurement for state and local institutions, though recent opportunities show the code attracting minimal direct activity despite robust purchasing across broader fresh produce categories. State and local governments buy fresh citrus primarily through aggregated produce contracts, school nutrition programs serving institutional meal requirements, and child care facility food service operations. The issuing bodies soliciting under related produce codes—school districts, county boards of education, municipal government food services, Head Start programs, and institutional correctional and senior service facilities—acquire fresh citrus as line items within larger fresh fruit and vegetable contracts rather than as standalone commodity procurements. Cities, counties, school districts, and special-purpose nutrition authorities dominate this segment; Georgia school districts (Bryan County, Dougherty County, Hancock County, Liberty County, Glynn County, Bulloch County, Muscogee County, Savannah-Chatham County) and Texas independent school districts (McAllen, Austin) are repeat institutional buyers of fresh produce that includes citrus varieties, while food service cooperatives such as the GEC Buying Cooperative aggregate demand across multiple districts to achieve volume discounts.

Recent opportunities in the broader fresh-produce and institutional-food-service space show substantial activity across Georgia and Texas, with secondary clusters in Florida, Connecticut, California, and Oregon. Representative solicitations include the GEC Buying Cooperative's RFP for fresh produce and eggs (Douglas County School System administering; due March 4, 2026; estimated $5.5 million across two geographic areas for 30 Georgia school districts); Austin Independent School District's RFP 26RFP034 for fresh produce and beverages (due March 11, 2026); Hancock County Board of Education's IFB for fresh produce with over 200 line items of apples, berries, cruciferous vegetables, and citrus (due June 26, 2026); and Hillsborough County Public Schools' RFP for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program specialty produce (due March 11, 2026; estimated $600,000 annual budget). Citrus varieties (oranges, lemons, tangerines, Satsumas, Kishus) appear consistently in school nutrition specification sheets and institutional meal plans, yet no recent opportunity explicitly targets Volkamer lemons as a standalone procurement, indicating the code sees activity only as a subline within larger fresh-fruit awards. School districts and food-service institutions typically purchase through regional distributors and cooperative frameworks rather than direct producer contracts, and price competitiveness is heavily weighted against USDA market pricing benchmarks and domestic sourcing preferences.