Florida citrus

Bruises continue to be inflicted on Florida’s citrus industry, as the forecast for the nearly concluded growing season dropped further Friday.The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued an updated production forecast that was 5.6 percent below projections released in April. Meanwhile, a decades-old citrus association shut its doors this week, and a major grower told investors its groves might need at least one more season to recover from 2022’s Hurricane Ian.

Florida’s citrus industry got some bitter news Thursday as it enters the final months of the 2023-2024 growing season.The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report that reduced estimates of orange and grapefruit production. Overall, the new numbers indicated the industry will slightly outpace the 2022-2023 season, which was devastated by Hurricane Ian and had the lowest output in 93 years.

As it hopes for a warm winter, Florida’s struggling citrus industry could be showing signs of recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Ian and progress in the decades-long fight against citrus greening disease.

Still recovering from Hurricane Ian, Florida’s citrus industry is expected to see an increase in production after last year’s storm-damaged crop.

Numbers released Wednesday confirmed that Florida’s 2022-2023 citrus season was the worst in nearly a century, as growers tried to recover from an early-season hurricane that exacerbated industry struggles.The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday issued a final report that showed a huge dropoff in production from the 2021-2022 season. The industry would have to go back to the 1929-1930 season to find comparable numbers.

Florida citrus officials are promoting the “grit of this industry” as the growing season is set to close with the lowest production in nearly a century.But they say growers are getting more anxious while continuing to wait for federal assistance approved after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole uprooted trees and flooded fields last fall.

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The U.S. Department of Justice says fewer acres were used during the last citrus season, which was the worst for orange production in the last eight decades.

Despite some frost and overnight temperatures as low as 27 degrees in some pockets of Southwest Florida last weekend, Florida’s vegetable and citrus industries are reporting minimal damage.

New technology being tested by researchers at UF/IFAS to help Florida farmers reduce their costs as much as possible in order to try and stay profitable in the face of what’s called ‘citrus greening.'