Florida citrus shipments will be off this season compared to last year because of some major hurricanes and storms. How much of a decline remains to be seen.
Category 3 Hurricane Milton, hit Florida on Oct. 10, and barrelled through nearly 70% of the state’s most productive citrus counties, reported Florida Citrus Mutual of Bartow, FL.
The storm arrived just before harvest, making the fruit highly susceptible to the strong winds, causing substantial fruit drop and damaging trees.
During the 2023-24 season, Florida’s citrus growers produced 17.97 million boxes of oranges, 1.79 million boxes of grapefruit and 450,000 boxes of tangelos and tangerines for a total of about 20.2 million boxes — an increase from 15.85 million boxes during the 2022-23 season, according to Citrus Mutual.
USDA’s first crop estimate of the 2024-25 harvest season released Oct. 11 forecast 15 million boxes of oranges, 1.4 million boxes of grapefruit and 400,000 boxes of tangerines and tangelos — a total of 16.8 million boxes. However, the estimate was released before Hurricane Milton made landfall. Future forecasts are expected to reflect a reduction in production.
The biggest impact in Central Florida came from Hurricane Milton, reports the 100-year-old Dundee Citrus Growers Association, Dundee, FL, parent company of Florida Classic Growers Inc., which also handles U.S. and Canadian marketing for Riverfront Packing, Vero Beach, FL.
Milton knocked a lot of fruit on the ground, tipped some trees over and did some damage to the operation’s packinghouse.
Some groves with navel oranges and hamlin juice oranges lost over half their crop, but it could have been worse, the company noted.
Dundee Fruit is still running pretty steady right, because it has a fair amount of citrus under protective screens protecting against fruit damage.
Feek Family Citrus and DLF Packing in Fort Pierce, FL, were fortunate.
The company lost 20% to 30% of its fall crop, mostly navel oranges, but did not experience any storm damage to its packinghouse.
The company’s main crop of valencia oranges should start shipping after the holidays and will continue from storage into July.
The firm is finished building a new cooler and should have new offices ready sometime in December. The new facility occupies 35,000 square feet and will be an addition to its existing packinghouse.