Florida’s annual Commercial Citrus Inventory Preliminary Report, released Aug. 29, shows total citrus acreage is 208,183 acres. This is a 24% decrease from last year.
The net loss of 66,522 acres is the second most reported in a Commercial Citrus Inventory in the past 25 years. It trails only the 127,182 acres reported lost in 2006, the year after the devastating disease HLB was found in the state. (Note that the Commercial Citrus Inventory was only issued every two years from 2000 through 2010 but has been issued annually since 2011.)
Florida has lost acreage in every Commercial Citrus Inventory since 2000, when Florida had 665,529 citrus acres. The vast majority of the lost acreage is the result of HLB.
New plantings, reported at 7,512 acres, are up from the previous season’s 4,751 acres.
Twenty-one of the 23 Florida counties inventoried showed decreases in acreage. Desoto County lost the most acreage, down 18,910 acres from the previous season.
Polk County leads in citrus acreage with 48,473 acres, followed by Highlands County at 37,561 acres. The only other counties with more than 10,000 acres are DeSoto (32,890 acres), Hardee (26,840), Hendry (16,012) and St. Lucie (15,209).
Orange acreage is now 183,860 acres, down 26% from the previous season. Valencia acreage accounts for 64% of the total orange acreage. Non-Valencia acreage represents 34%, and the remaining orange acreage is unidentified.
Grapefruit acreage is now at 12,787 acres, down 11% from the previous season.
Specialty fruit acreage, at 11,536 acres, is down 7% from the previous season. Tangerines and tangelos account for just over 50% of the specialty fruit, with 5,774 acres. The remaining acreage is other citrus, with a total of 5,762 acres.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), cooperating with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, issued the report.
Source: USDA NASS
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