Florida's citrus acreage continues to shrink, with the latest figures showing that it fell 5 per cent across the state this season, down to 454,973 acres from 480,121 acres last year.
The report, compiled by the Florida Field Office at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), showed that acreage had fallen dramatically from the 748,555 acres recorded in 2004.
In terms of commercial trees, the state lost 36,863 acres, with new plantings standing at just 11,715 acres.
In its season review, the USDA showed that the Florida citrus industry brought in some US$780.7m for 2016/17, well down on the revised figure of US$947.5m in 2015/16.
