The Lakeland Ledger reported the news after last week's meeting of the Florida Citrus Commission. The forecast, part of a report from the Florida Department of Citrus, is based on the US department of agriculture's citrus tree census released in September. The census revealed that the state has lost some 1.3million grapefruit trees over the last two years: a 10 per cent reduction. Many of those trees were lost to the tristeza virus.
The FDOC's Mark Brown is reported in the Ledger as saying that trees planted on the sour orange rootstock are vulnerable and some 42 per cent of the state's grapefruit trees use this rootstock. However, more modern commercial plantations have stopped planting on sour orange.
Declining rates of new plantings have further aggravated the situation. This is chiefly because grower returns for fruit have been poor.
The department reportedly projects a decline to 2006-07 when the forecast is for a 33million box season compared to this season's 42million boxes, itself a low volume year because of unseasonably warm winter weather last winter.
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