Amid greening, state citrus forecast drops even farther

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s struggling citrus industry, already on a path for its worst growing season in decades, saw a slight dip in the latest forecast for orange and grapefruit harvests.

As growers continue to battle the devastating impacts of citrus greening disease, the downward projections in a January outlook released Thursday put the harvest closer to the forecast when the season started in October.

Mark Hudson, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Statistics Board, said the state’s postcard industry is now forecast to produce enough oranges to fill 71 million 90-pound boxes.

The number is down from an estimated 72 million boxes in both November and December, but remains above the initial season forecast of 70 million boxes.

Meanwhile, Hudson said grapefruit production is estimated at 9 million 90-pound boxes.

The number is down from a projected 9.1 million boxes in December and 9.6 million boxes when the season started. The state produced 10.8 million boxes of grapefruit in the 2015-2016 season.

The projected orange harvest for the 2016-2017 season is substantially below the 81.6 million boxes harvested during the 2015-2016 season.

Florida, which accounted for 49 percent of total U.S. citrus production in the past growing season, has been struggling for a decade against citrus greening, an incurable bacterial disease.

Throughout the decade before the disease was found, the state’s orange harvest annually topped 200 million boxes, with a high of 244 million boxes in the 1997-1998 season.

Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, called the latest monthly numbers “the slight fluctuations this industry is accustomed to historically in a season.”

The department lowered the box tax last year.