us: worst citrus production climate in 40 years

Just six weeks after the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the 2012-13 Florida citrus crop would decline by 5 percent as a result of dry weather and disease pressure, the situation has worsened.

 

"The current concern is that we continue to see dropping of fruit from the trees and the fruit is not sizing up," said Michael W. Sparks, CEO and executive vice president of Lakeland-based industry organization Florida Citrus Mutual. "It's not as big as growers anticipate. So there is less juice in that fruit. And that is becoming a grave concern to growers."

 

Vic Story, who runs 5,000-acre, Lake Wales-headquartered family operation The Story Companies, which grows oranges in Hardee and Polk counties, confirmed that growers are increasingly worried.

 

"We are seeing a decrease in our crop this year, primarily because of the dry weather and the disease pressure from greening," said Story, who has headed the 68-year-old company since the early 1970s.

 

Story and many other growers have been using enhanced nutrition programs in recent years to boost the size of their fruit.

 

For some small growers, operating margins have been reduced by as much as 40-60 percent, Story said.

 

"Pound solids" — the metric for measuring juice times sugar as a formula for market value — are also slumping somewhat. "If you multiply that out according to the size of your crop, that's hurting us, too," Story said.

 

He added that he has never seen the production climate as bad as it is now in his 40 years running the operation. "The only thing I've ever seen that compares to this is a major freeze," he said. "And the last time we had one was back in 1989."

 

He also said the fight against greening had increased production costs.

 

Story is concerned that if Florida continues to face a production slump, Brazil might try to take advantage of that by shipping more product into the U.S.

 

"They've got a lot of inventory built up down there," he said. "And if we can't supply the U.S. market, they will. And that would cost American jobs and in particular, it would hurt the Central Florida economy."

 

Source: highlandstoday.com