By News Service of Florida
Florida citrus growers got a little positive news Thursday. But as the 2024-2025 citrus season nears an end, it remains on pace to produce the smallest harvest in over a century.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday estimated Florida will produce 12 million boxes of oranges during the season, up from a May estimate of 11.63 million boxes.
But that is down from 18.06 million boxes during the 2023-2024 season.
Similarly, estimates of grapefruit and specialty fruit are down from the 2023-2024 harvest, as the industry continues to struggle with deadly citrus greening disease, hurricane damage and development pressures.
Matt Joyner, Florida Citrus Mutual executive vice president and CEO, said in a statement that “growers continue to persevere.” But Joyner added that state and federal investments in research and solutions are needed for the industry’s “recovery and revitalization efforts.”
As part of continuing negotiations on a 2025-2026 state budget, lawmakers appear to have agreed to spend $104.5 million for citrus research, a priority of Senate President Ben Albritton, a citrus grower from Wauchula.
That would be $86.5 million more than in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican and chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Environment and General Government Appropriations Committee, said the additional spending is aimed at helping retain farmers through planting new, potentially disease resistant citrus varieties that will take several years to begin producing fruit.
Florida’s citrus industry has been on a steady decline during the past 25 years.
The crop for the current season is on pace to be the lowest since the state’s 1919-1920 citrus harvest.
The new forecast estimated Florida will produce 1.3 million boxes of grapefruit this season, the same as estimated in May.
The estimate of lemons remained at 600,000 boxes, while specialty fruits, such as tangerines, stayed at 400,000 boxes.