Florida is experiencing its lowest citrus crop ever. As the second-largest citrus-producing state, the decline significantly impacted the most recent orange production report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Mark Hudson from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), says Florida’s production is expected to go down by 33 percent compared to last year.
“If this current forecast is realized, it’ll be the smallest crop since 8.95 million boxes in the 1929-1930 season—back before they had irrigation,” Hudson said. “Our bearing trees are down; our fruit per tree is down; our size is small; and our drop is high—then we have Hurricane Milton come through.”
These Florida production declines contribute to the five percent drop from the October forecast.
Here are the top agriculture news headlines from RFD-TV News today (Friday, March 21, 2025) and the top trending stories on RFD-TV News.
March 21, 2025 01:33 PM
·
March 21, 2025 10:40 AM
·
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, RFD-TV News reporter Lily Raby asked Senate Ag Committee member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for his opinion on Des Moines school leaders’ decisions to halt ag education programs, which also threatens the future of the city’s FFA chapter.
March 18, 2025 11:40 AM
·
Trinity Barth and Liliann Tjaden-Duff joined us on Market Day Report to express their concerns about the future of the program that has, for 50 years, given students of all backgrounds a path to agriculture careers.
March 14, 2025 01:14 PM
·
March 10, 2025 11:18 AM
·
Here are the top agriculture news headlines from RFD-TV News today (Thursday, March 6, 2025) and the top trending stories on RFD-TV News.
March 06, 2025 01:48 PM
·
RFD-TV Ag Law & Tax Expert Roger McEowen takes a look back at some of the biggest changes in ag and tax law from last year while looking ahead at what further developments could be in store for 2025.
February 27, 2025 02:08 PM
·