The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it has reduced its orange crop forecast for the 2011/12 season by 2m boxes, estimating Florida will now produce 145m boxes.
'It’s truly amazing Florida growers can once again produce such a quality crop in the face of immense challenges such as HLB, or citrus greening,' said Michael Sparks, executive vice-president and chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual. 'This is a testament to the resiliency of our growers and the fact they are the best in the world, bar none.'
The April decrease was seen entirely in Valencias, with the estimate dropping from 73m to 71m boxes, while early and mid-season varieties remained at 74m boxes.
During the 2010/11 season, Florida produced 139m boxes of oranges.
For Florida specialty fruit, the USDA predicted 1.15m boxes of tangelos and 4.3m boxes of tangerines, figures unchanged from the March estimate.
The USDA predicts Florida will harvest 18.8m boxes of grapefruit this season, showing a minor rise from the March forecast of 18.7m.
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