Florida Citrus Season Wraps up — Here Are the Numbers
July 15, 2024 “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” This widely used metaphor accurately defines citrus season for Florida growers. What starts with cautious optimism in the fall, finishes with a reality in check in July. The final production estimates from USDA for the 2023-2024 season show consistency and even some growth over last year.
According to the government agency’s statisticians, their July report indicates an all-orange total just shy of 18 million boxes (6.72 million boxes of early, mid-season varieties plus 11.2 million boxes of Valencia). USDA’s original citrus crop estimate back in October came in at 20.5 million boxes. The tally for July represented a 1% increase over USDA’s June crop forecast. While the total is nowhere near the orange production heydays of the late 1990s and early 2000s, it is still higher than last season’s total of 15.9 million boxes.
Continued pressure from HLB and multiple hurricane strikes in recent years have drastically reduced citrus production in the Sunshine State. These major factors (and others) have put even more distance between Florida and the nation’s current leading orange producer — California. According to USDA stats, the California all-orange production estimate for July is 47.5 million boxes. By the way: Net pounds per box for California is 80. In Florida, it’s 90 pounds.
Grapefruit Grind
All Florida grapefruit production finished its 2023-2024 campaign at 1.79 million boxes. This is flat compared to last season (1.81 million boxes).
Despite the ongoing challenges, several new developments over this past citrus season are giving Florida growers hope to go on. Some of the positive headlines included:
- New Findings Reveal Cause Behind Fruit Drop in Citrus
- Can Growing Citrus Under Protective Screen Save Florida’s Signature Crop?
- Scientific Discovery Gives New Hope for Citrus With HLB Tolerance
- Florida Ag Scientists Look to New Crop Transformation Center as Hub of Hope
- 5 New Research Projects Take a Swing at Solving Citrus Greening
The first citrus crop forecast for 2024-2025 is scheduled to release on Oct. 11.
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