Drew Dixon
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast for Florida’s citrus harvest this season is a bit more optimistic than the past few months, but not by much.
The March citrus crop forecast for the Sunshine State projects there will be 11.6 million boxes of oranges harvested from Florida groves in the 2024-25 season, along with 1.2 million boxes of grapefruit. Both of those figures are up by only 100,000 boxes in each category compared to February’s forecast.
It may not seem like much. But the forecast at least puts a stop to plummeting projections for the growing season. Forecasts have fallen each month since Hurricanes Helene and Milton ravaged Florida in September and October, respectively. Citrus officials worried that growers would not recover much of the fruit that was lost due to those storms.
While the latest forecast shows an uptick in the forecast compared to February, it’s still not as high as January’s prognostication. In the first month of the year, the USDA projected that there would be 12 million boxes of oranges harvested by the end of the growing season and 1.2 million boxes of grapefruit would be produced.
This month’s forecast for the harvest of tangelos and tangerines remains the same, at 350,000 boxes.
Nevertheless, Florida citrus officials are encouraged that there was at least some increase in the forecasted harvest this month from the USDA.
“Today’s steady increase in the citrus crop estimate offers a glimmer of hope that production may be on the road to recovery. Despite setbacks from hurricanes and citrus greening, citrus growers and researchers are working hand-in-hand to leverage technologies and sustainable practices to rebuild Florida citrus production,” said Matt Joyner, CEO at Florida Citrus Mutual.
“It’s crucial that industry, academia and government continue working together to ensure the future is bright for Florida citrus. Florida’s citrus industry continues to receive an outpouring of support from state leaders, including Senate President Ben Albritton and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. With continued resources from the state and federal levels, Florida citrus growers can preserve Florida’s citrus legacy as the iconic symbol of our state, providing jobs and shaping our culture for more than a century.”
As the Legislative Session is ongoing, lawmakers in Tallahassee will consider citrus proposals fronted by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He proposed the Focus on Fiscal Responsibility Budget for 2025-26, which calls for more than $20 million for the Citrus Health Response Program and other citrus research. About $7 million of that money, if approved, would go to advertising and additional research through the Florida Department of Citrus to increase the production of trees and advance technologies that produce trees resistant to citrus greening.
