Florida citrus crop expected to top last year’s

Florida’s 2023-24 citrus crop should be significantly more robust than last season’s, according to the latest USDA forecast.

The 2022-23 season was marred by two hurricanes and a December freeze, said Matt Joyner, CEO of Bartow-based Florida Citrus Mutual.

This year’s citrus crop experienced some early drought conditions, but rain eventually picked up, and as of late October, the state’s citrus-growing regions had not been hit by any hurricanes, though there still were a few weeks left in hurricane season.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll get through that,” Joyner said.

USDA’s July forecast estimated that Florida growers will pack 20.5 million 90-pound boxes of oranges, 1.9 million 85-pound boxes of grapefruit and 500,000 95-pound boxes of tangerines and tangelos during the 2023-24 season.

Those are increases from the 2022-23 season, when growers produced about 15.8 million boxes of oranges, 1.8 million boxes of grapefruit and 480,000 boxes of tangerines and tangelos.

The Sunshine State’s citrus growers have a lot going on this season.

Vero Beach, Fla.-based Riverfront Packing, a partner of Dundee Citrus Growers Association, a cooperative of more than 200 growers, has added to its grower base, which will allow the association to expand its offerings, said association CEO Steven Callaham.

“Riverfront’s grower base includes some of the most well-known and respected Indian River growers,” Callaham said.

The co-op is expanding its Citrus Under Protective Screen, or CUPS, acreage with a new, 500-acre planting that will boost its CUPS acreage to 1,000 by spring of 2025.

And starting this fall, the co-op’s CUPS-grown fruit will be marketed under new brands.

“Our Rubies-branded grapefruit will be marketed under our Eco-Grown Citrus family of products,” he said. “Our CUPS-grown mandarins will be marketed under our Sunnies brand.”

Dundee Citrus Growers Association will offer red grapefruit, dark red grapefruit, juice oranges, navel oranges and seedless tangerines this fall with year-over-year volume up on all varieties.

The early drought conditions have resulted in smaller fruit sizes this season, Callaham said, but the fruit quality is excellent.

“It’s better than we have seen in quite a few years,” he said.

Fort Pierce, Fla.-based DLF International has a new marketing name — Feek Family Citrus — and has broken ground on a 35,000-square-foot cold facility and modern de-greening system that should be up and running by March, said Jordan Feek, director of marketing and data analytics.

The new facility means oranges won’t have to be transported more than 150 miles to a storage unit in Tampa, Fla.

“Having control over the process will be a huge plus for us,” Feek said.

The company also has installed five bag machines that can pack almost any bag available as well as automated grading and auto packers, she said.

The company also is installing a chlorine dioxide sanitation system to help keep its packinghouse clean and free of unwanted fungus and decay spores that may come in from the field.

Feek Family Citrus now is shipping hamlin oranges, navels, early golds and star ruby grapefruit.

Quality should be good this year.

“We’ve already noticed an improvement in quality over last season,” Feek said.

Florida’s citrus industry seems to be making progress against citrus greening disease — or Huanglongbing, also known as HLB.

“Research has given us some tools that can help move the needle in terms of growing citrus in a greening-endemic environment,” said Joyner of Florida Citrus Mutual.

Nearly 1,000 acres have been planted or are scheduled to be planted under protective screening, including 10-acre greenhouses, he said.

Some individual trees are covered with net bags to keep disease-bearing psyllids away.

The industry also has made tremendous strides in breeding, Joyner said.

“That’s really going to be the ultimate answer — a tree that is resistant to greening,” he said.