LAKE WALES, Fla. — Hurricanes and citrus greening disease have left the Florida orange industry reeling, but the new U.S. Department of Agriculture production forecast is showing signs of hope.
Citrus grower and Vice President of The Story Companies, Kyle Story, had a beautiful bloom a couple of months ago. An encouraging sign this season after hurricane Milton ravaged half his crop.
“We see the trees recovering very well. Our crop has been impacted, but that is a new normal when we have a hurricane,” Story said.
The fruit at this Lake Wales grove is used to produce the orange juice we see at the grocery store. The fourth-generation grower said his crop in Polk County has a long way to go compared to his groves further south.
“We do produce grapefruit in other sites as well as some mandarins, which we did see improvement on, but as far as the juice fruit here in the center of the state, we saw a decrease,” Story said.
Florida’s citrus industry is seeing a slight improvement this season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s updated production forecast.
The forecast maintained the same estimates for oranges as in a March projection. Growers are expected to fill 11.6 million 90-pound boxes of oranges.
But the forecast for grapefruit production increased from 1.2 million boxes in March to 1.3 million boxes. The new forecast also estimates tangerines and mandarins to increase from 350,000 boxes in March to 400,000 boxes.
“The trees are improving. We have therapies that we’ve deployed over the last few years to make the trees healthier, and we’re seeing those improvements,” Story said.
While there have been small increases from season to season, the 2024-2025 season will have historically low production as growers continue to battle the deadly citrus greening disease and losses from hurricanes.
"Wholistically we’re down this season there’s no doubt about it. The hurricane had an impact and there was loss but to see the crop level out here at the end of the season may not be surprising but it’s hopeful,” said Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual.
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