Following two disappointing years, Texas citrus is expected to rebound this season, although it certainly will not be setting any records.
Texas Citrus Mutual reports for the 2022-23 season, growers are expecting a strong harvest after two years stymied by extreme weather which included a hurricane one year and a freeze another year.
Lone Star Citrus Growers is a family-owned, conventional grapefruit and orange packing shed based in Mission, Texas. The company hopes to have 80 percent of a normal crop a year from now, which would be the 2023-24 season.
While no official numbers are being reported as yet, Texas’ Rio Grande Valley had about 2 million 85-pound boxes of oranges in 2019 and around 1.5 million boxes in 2020. Grapefruit shipments were about 5.7 million 80-pound boxes in 2019 and 4.9 million cartons in 2020. Around 40 percent of both oranges and grapefruit go to the fresh market.