Floridaās agriculture commissioner said Monday that the path of Hurricane Irma ācould not have been more lethalā to the stateās farmers and that the scope of damage to the stateās fruits and vegetables is unprecedented.
Another bag of mixed news for Florida’s signature crops:Ā Orange production actually increased while grapefruit productionĀ has declined. That’s according to the latest forecast released Wednesday from theĀ the U.S. Department of Agriculture’sĀ National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS. “The May report projects the stateās orange crop to increase toĀ 68 million boxes for the 2016-17 season,” said a press releaseĀ from theĀ Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC). “The grapefruit cropĀ dipped to 7.8Ā million boxes.” The department, funded mainly through box taxes paid by the stateās citrus growers,…
One of Florida’s most iconic landmarks has been restored. The giant orange has weathered many of the ups and downs of the state’s citrus industry. The orange came to Lake County in 1971 when the industry was booming and more than 130,000 acres were dedicated to citrus farming. Many roadside citrus stands at the time had a piece of architecture that made each one unique. But as the industry struggled over the years, plagued by canker, greening and freezes, the…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a bleak estimate for the state’s citrus industry, saying that the 2014-2015 Florida orange crop will yield 96.4 million boxes of fruit, down from the 104 million boxes produced last year. The estimate released Tuesday represents a decline of 60 percent since the peak of citrus production at 244 million boxes in 1997-98. Florida agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam says it shows just how severely citrus greening has devastated Florida’s top fruit crop. Greening is…