By The News Service of Florida
Hammered by hurricanes and citrus greening disease, Florida’s citrus industry ended the 2024-2025 growing season with the lowest production in more than a century, according to numbers released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The final total for orange production increased slightly from a June estimate. But orange production in the 2024-2025 season was down 32.7 percent from the 2023-2024 season. Grapefruit production was down 27.4 percent, while tangerines and tangelos were down 11 percent. Overall, 14.52 million boxes of citrus were produced during the 2024-2025 season, including lemons, which were not detailed in past years. That was the lowest total since 13.928 million boxes were filled during the 1919-1920 season.
The Legislature this spring approved a large influx of assistance for the industry, with Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican and citrus grower, making the issue a priority.
“This heritage industry is not only vital to our state’s economy, but it is truly a part of our DNA,” Albritton said when lawmakers approved a state budget on June 16. “Citrus has been a pillar of our state since the 1500s, serving as a key economic driver within our vital agricultural industry.”
The budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which began July 1, includes $124.5 million for the industry. That includes $100 million for new disease-resistant trees, grove management, therapeutic tools and rehabilitating existing trees.
During the 2024-2025 season, growers produced enough oranges to fill 12.15 million boxes of oranges. Grapefruit production was at 1.3 million boxes, while tangerines and tangelos were at 400,000 boxes and lemons were at 670,000 boxes. Even with the inclusion of lemons, overall citrus production during the 2024-2025 season was 28.5 percent lower than during the 2023-2024 season and off 75 percent from five years ago. In the early 2000s, before deadly citrus greening disease was detected in Florida groves, the industry produced more than 250 million boxes of citrus a year.
Along with citrus greening, the industry has had to contend with development pressures and a series of hurricanes that damaged citrus-growing areas. The latest was Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm that made landfall in Sarasota County in October, an early part of the growing season.
Florida Citrus Production Lowest in Century added by Staff on
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When looking at Numbers a Century ago, then the numbers for the Year had the Highest Yield and the Number for this Year, you should also look at how many Trees each of those Years had. I would think, a Century ago, there were a lot fewer Trees then there were the Year that had the Highest Yield. Now what were the Number of Trees a Century ago compared to this Year? The Loss could be a lot worse or the numbers could be the same as a Century ago.