Florida is still KING

[Millet]

Although Florida’s bearing citrus acreage has tumbled 50% since the finding of HLB in 2005, the Sunshine State still has the most bearing citrus acreage in the United States. Florida had 298,400 bearing acres in 2022–23 compared to California’s 267,000 acres. Texas had 16,400 bearing acres, and Arizona had 6,400 bearing acres. (Citrus Industry Magazine)

[Galatians522]

Well, that is comforting. I'm afraid that it won't last much longer, though. The groves around here look as bad as they ever have. I would wager that many of the "bearing acres" are producing less than 50 boxes to the acre. I visited a grove last week that I estimated would pick about 10 boxes (it was not a new planting). In spite of all that it is good to know that people have not completely given up yet.

[DavidBYE]

Wonder how long it will take them to realize that the citrus trees need afternoon shade and organic matter in the soil? Planting on sand hills in full sun is a recipe for tree stress and disease... UF has published papers on this situation, no one is listening or changing.

[Calusa]

How in the world do you provide afternoon shade to a 1,000 acre grove? Nevermind. You don't.

Florida didn't rise to become to country's leading citrus producer by trying to figure out how to shade their groves. LOL

[DavidBYE]

It is fairly common in agriculture, you may have heard of wind rows.

[Galatians522]

Any bets on how long it will be before California passes us in acreage? I give it 2-3 years. They already have more production and a better box price. Come to think of it, if we got $50 per box like they did instead of $14 you wouldn't see many bad groves (even with greening). Fortunately, we still have some tangerine acreage going in from Nobel Agriculture to produce local Juicy Crunch tangerines. Apparently, they can still turn a profit on that.

[DavidBYE]

It is sad to see the shape of a lot of the groves. I sincerely hope they can turn this around. You are probably correct, a couple of years FL will go from Orange King to Orange Queen.