Citrus crop down slightly in 2008-2009

Article from the Orlando Business Journal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s initial citrus crop forecast predicts Florida will produce 166 million boxes of oranges in 2008-2009, a 2.5 percent decrease from last season’s total of 170.2 million boxes.

Fran Becker, president of Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, said that even though the industry expects a slight decrease, the forecast is higher than earlier expectations.

“Our industry is facing many production issues,” said Becker in a written release. “The economic situation both here and abroad will most certainly impact our markets for fresh and processed citrus, the extent of which will not be known for some time.”

The USDA also predicts 23 million boxes of grapefruit will be produced in 2008-2009, down 14 percent from 26.6 million last season.

In addition, the forecast for early and midseason varieties is projected at 88 million boxes, and Valencias are projected to total 78 million boxes this season. For Florida specialty fruit, the USDA predicts 1.5 million boxes of tangelos and 4.9 million boxes of tangerines.

The Florida citrus industry has a $9.3 billion annual economic impact and employs nearly 76,000 people.

Mike Sparks,
Florida Citrus Mutual, CEO

State agriculture officials say that if there are fewer than about 400,000 acres of citrus groves in Florida, the industry will not be able to keep its packing houses and processing plants open. More than 500,000 acres, and the industry can sustain itself.

In which direction is Florida headed?

In the 1997-98 season, Florida had 785,900 acres of commercially productive groves that produced 304.4 million boxes of oranges, grapefruit and other citrus, a record high.

Last year, Florida had 554,400 acres of commercial groves that produced 162 million boxes of citrus.

The tipping point is creeping dangerously close.

"If we were to drop to 400,000 acres, would we start losing processing plants? Would the growers replant? There are so many what-ifs in this scenario," Sparks said last week. "Is it a concern? Yes. Is it being understood? Yes.

"There is certainly a level of urgency in the air, but not that we're going out of business."

To varying degrees, the state's citrus industry has been under attack from urban developers, hurricanes, freezes and canker for the past decade.

And the latest threat, citrus greening, adds a potentially bigger problem to the mix.

A bacteria spread by insects that destroys the fruit's value and kills the tree after a few years, greening has been found in all of Florida's major citrus-producing counties. It has not surfaced yet in Citrus or Pinellas counties, but they account for less than 0.5 percent of the state's production.

The only option growers currently have is to destroy infected trees, although the Florida Department of Citrus is shifting millions of dollars into finding ways to combat the bacteria.

"We are in a very crucial period the next couple of years," said Craig Meyer, a deputy commissioner of Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "If we get a breakthrough in dealing with greening, then I think the industry has a fighting chance. But it'll never go back to the number of boxes of the 1990s or acres of the 1970s."

To help in the fight, the state created a Citrus Health Response Program to ensure new trees are guaranteed to be disease-free.

"Starting last January," Meyer said, "you can't sell a citrus seedling in Florida that was not grown in a secure facility. Nothing will work if you don't have healthy seedlings to replace the trees you lose."

As the supply of Florida citrus has dropped, the price growers can receive has risen. The average box of citrus brought $3.16 a decade ago; in 2006-07, a box brought $8.40.

That has also translated to higher prices for orange juice. About 95 percent of Florida's orange crop is used for juice.

The Florida citrus industry has a $9.3 billion economic effect on the state, and is tied to 90,000 jobs. Florida produces about 75 percent of the oranges grown in the United States and accounts for about 35 percent of the world's orange juice supply.

An orange is also on the state's license plate. And like alligators, palm trees and sunsets, citrus is part of what defines Florida.

As a boy growing up in Polk County, Meyer recalls being excused from school to tend to bonfires in the groves on freezing nights.

"The Spanish brought citrus here in the 1500s," he said, "and now it's woven into the fabric of so many communities.

"It's very important that we hold on to this."

Article courtesy of The Lakeland Ledger June 10, 2008