Posts Tagged “citurs imports”

Citrus  shipments have declined 13 percent between 2007 and 2012, mostly from Florida.

The USDA’s Census of Agriculture shows that citrus acreage declined to 877,701 acres in 2012 due to primarily citrus greening in Florida.  The disease affected nearly all citrus crops except tangerines.

What’s more, at just over 13,000 farms in 2012, the number of U.S. citrus orchards dropped a whopping 17% from 2007. As a percent of total fruit and tree nut acreage, citrus in 2012 accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. orchard acreage, down from 20 percent in 2007 and 24 percent in 2002.

U.S. grapefruit production tumbled from 156,869 acres in 2002 to 88,393 acres in 2012, while orange acreage slid from 987,743 in 2012 to 670,386 acres in 2012.

Headed the other way, U.S. citrus imports have increased over the last decade, rising from 419,053 metric tons in 2002 to 840,103 metric tons in 2014.

An exception in U.S. citrus acreage shows tangerines have experienced remarkable strength.  The USDA reports tangerine acreage in the U.S. rose from 31,419 acres in 2002 to 36,965 acres in 2007 and 42,289 acres in 2012. In a 10-year period where total citrus acreage sank by 32 percent, tangerine acreage shot up 34 percent.

Most tangerine acreage increases have come from California, with a fourfold increase in acreage (8,058 acres in 2002 to 33,465 acres in 2012).  The state now accounts for 80 percent of all mandarin acreage in the U.S.   Slumping like other varieties, Florida’s tangerine acreage dropped 60 percent from 2002 and 2012.

Like Florida, will California eventually have to deal with the ravages of HLB?  California continues to expand the quarantine for the citrus greening (Huanglongbing or HLB) carrying vector, the Asian Citrus Pysllid (ACP). The California Department of Food and Agriculture says ACP county-wide quarantines are now in place in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties, with portions of Fresno, Kern Madera, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara counties are also under quarantine.

Despite much research money devoted to the quest, there is no cure for citrus greening yet.  Thankfully, the CDFA notes that “HLB has been detected just once in California – in 2012 on a single residential property in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles County.”