Florida citrus forecast improves over last year when hurricanes hit state

The production of tangerines and mandarins also was forecast to be up, going from 480,000 boxes last season to an expected 500,000 boxes in the upcoming season.

Florida had been the leading producer of oranges in the U.S. until last season when the state was battered by Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. California surpassed the Sunshine State in orange production.

The decline in orange production made the 2022-23 season one of the worst since World War II. The harvest was 41.2 million boxes in 2021-2022 and more than 52.9 million the season before that. Even before the hurricanes, citrus production had been on a downward trajectory because of ongoing disease problems.

Hurricane Idalia, the most-recent cyclone to directly hit the state, did not affect the citrus industry.

In estimates released by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson earlier in October, citrus was reportedly safe from the storm. Idalia made landfall as a Category-3 storm in the Big Bend region, where other goods — like timber — flourish.

The storm left a near-$500 million bruise on state agriculture, including more than $150 million in damage to livestock and other animal products, north of $90 million in damage to field crops and $60-million-plus tolls each on timber and vegetable crops.

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Some material from The Associated Press appears with permission in this article.