US state’s orange crop now predicted to be around 12mn boxes, which makes it the smallest crop in around a hundred years
Florida’s citrus forecast has undergone what appears to be an unprecedented adjustment, after the USDA assessed the impact of widespread damage caused by Hurricane Milton in October and issued a dramatic downward revision.
According to the government agency’s Agricultural Statistics Board, the state’s orange crop will be 12.0mn boxes in 2024/25, down 20 per cent on the original prediction.
That figure is 33 per cent less than last year’s production, it said, and represents a historic low not seen in as long as a century.
The forecast consists of 7mn million boxes of Valencia oranges (down 2mn on the previously anticipated crop) and 5mn boxes of non-Valencia oranges (–1mn), which include early, mid-season, and Navel varieties, it stated.
“Current fruit size is average and is projected to be average at harvest,” it noted. “Current droppage is projected to be above the maximum at harvest.”
Grapefruit production, meanwhile, is now expected to be around 1.2mn boxes, down 200,000 boxes on the October forecast and 33 per cent less than last season.
The red grapefruit forecast, at 1.05mn boxes, has been lowered by 150,000 boxes, and for white grapefruit the figure is down 25 per cent to 150,00 boxes.
Lemons remain unchanged at 500,000 boxes; tangerines and mandarins are down 12.5 per cent to 350,000 boxes.
