By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Citrus growers continue to express optimism for future harvests even as the first forecast for this season indicates production will be down nearly 19 percent from the prior season’s crop.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday projected orange production in Florida to be off 23 percent from the prior season, which ended in July. The grapefruit harvest is expected to be down 4 percent and the outlook for specialty crops of tangerines and tangelos showed a 2 percent decrease.
The production of lemons, a relatively new category for the state, is forecast to be up 6 percent from the 2025-2026 harvest.
Florida Citrus Mutual Executive Vice President Matt Joyner pointed to the lingering effect of a pair of winter freezes at the start of this year as “a speed bump on our road to recovery.”
“But there are many signs that point to strong performance in the years ahead,” Joyner added. “Growers are reporting healthier trees and improved fruit quality, and we’re seeing higher production per acre. As newly planted acreage matures, we’re hopeful the data will reflect the optimism we feel in the groves this season.”
The industry is counting on continued state and further federal assistance.
The state budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, included $196 million for the industry. Of that, $160 million is for new plantings and field trials of treatments against the ravages of a deadly bacterial disease called huanglongbing, better known as citrus greening disease.
For a quarter century, citrus greening has decimated the industry, which also faces pressures from hurricanes, development, and changing drinking habits.
The state budget also included $20 million to purchase, refurbish, and repair nursery and packinghouse equipment.
The USDA’s annual Commercial Citrus Inventory report released in August showed citrus growers were using 21 percent fewer acres than a year earlier.
There are 165,000 acres in use across 23 counties for the current season, a 73 percent reduction from two decades ago.
Joyner said the industry also continues to advocate for passage of the Florida Freeze Disaster Assistance Act (H.R. 9094), which members of the state Congressional delegation introduced after the freezes.
The bill seeks $3.5 billion in emergency USDA funding that would be administered by the state through block grants to Florida’s farmers, ranchers and growers. The bill hasn’t gotten through the first stage of the legislative process with less than three months remaining for the 119th U.S. Congress.
The forecast released Friday anticipated orange growers to produce enough of the state’s signature crop to fill 10 million industry-standard 90-pound boxes, of which 7 million boxes will be Valencia oranges.
Grapefruit is forecast at 1.3 million boxes: 1.2 million of the red variety and 100,000 white grapefruit.
Tangerines and tangelos are at 450,000 boxes.
Last season, growers produced 12.9 million boxes of oranges, 1.35 million boxes of grapefruit and 460,000 boxes of tangerines and tangelos.
Twenty years earlier, with growers rebounding from several severe hurricanes, the harvest produced 147.9 million boxes of oranges, 19.3 million boxes of grapefruit and 7.6 million boxes of specialty fruits.
Lemons, which the USDA has tracked in Florida only the past two seasons, are projected at 950,000 boxes, up from 900,000 last season and 670,000 in the 2024-2025 growing season.
The forecast is the first of four planned for the season instead of nine as in prior years, part of changes made after the 43-day government shutdown that began in October 2024.
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