Global orange production is forecast to decline in 2024–25 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS), but orange juice (OJ) production is expected to increase. ORANGES Production of global oranges is forecast down 662,000 tons to 45.2 million tons. Higher production in Brazil is expected to be more than offset by lower crops in Egypt, Türkiye and …
Japan’s Mandarin and Orange Production
Japan’s mandarin and orange crops are both forecast to decline in 2024–25 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). MANDARINS Japan’s mandarin production is estimated at 830,000 metric tons (MT) for 2024–25, a 4.7% reduction from the prior year. Mandarin production in Japan continues to decline because of high summer temperatures, in addition to a decreasing …
Southern Hemisphere Citrus Exports Decline
Total citrus exports from the Southern Hemisphere fell in 2024 after several years of marked growth. The main culprit was South Africa, which contributed two-thirds of the Southern Hemisphere’s exports at 2.23 million tons. SOUTH AFRICA South Africa is by far the main exporter of fresh citrus in the Southern Hemisphere. In this region, South Africa is traditionally the largest …
China Has Changes in Orange and OJ Production
China, the world’s largest citrus producer, is forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) to produce 7.62 million metric tons (MMT) of oranges in marketing year 2024–25. That’s a slight reduction from prior year production of 7.63 MMT. A range of weather-related issues is threatening orange production, including persistent rain in April and May that …
International Project Arms Citrus Industry Against HLB
Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) Government has partnered with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and Hort Innovation to prepare the citrus industry against huanglongbing (HLB). Although widespread in Asia and found in North and South America, HLB is not known to be present in Australia. The psyllid that spreads HLB is also absent from Australia. A collaborative research …
CITRUS NURSERY SOURCE: What’s on Tap for 2024–25
By Peter Chaires The New Varieties Development and Management Corp. (NVDMC) has awarded funding to citrus projects for the 2024–25 season. Exciting things are happening in crop transformation, but significant progress is also being made in conventional breeding. The NVDMC board continues to support conventional breeding projects, each with a focus on near-term results, while still setting a foundation for …
Queensland Fruit Fly Host List Includes Citrus
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS) in June established a host list of regulated articles for the Queensland fruit fly (QFF). The pest, which has been found in California, is native to Australia and is not endemic to the United States. QFF attacks more than 120 plant species, including numerous commercial varieties of fruits …
Interstock Pros and Cons for HLB Management
The pros of using interstocks for HLB management seemed to outweigh the cons, based on a presentation horticulturist Manjul Dutt made at this spring’s Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute. Dutt is a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) assistant professor. An interstock is a graft of a citrus selection that can be used as a bridge between …
Parasites Fight Citrus Gall Wasps
Jianhua Mo, a research entomologist with Australia’s New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) authored an article about the release of parasitic wasps for the control of citrus gall wasps (CGW). Edited excerpts follow: CGW is a pest of major concern in the southern citrus-growing regions of the Riverina, Sunraysia and Riverland. With the exception of the adult …
Finger Lime Field Day Draws Mostly Non-Citrus Crowd
Only a few Florida commercial citrus growers were on hand for an April 24 finger lime field day at the Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) in Lake Alfred. Most of the more than 40 attendees did not own citrus groves, and about half were women — definitely not the standard crowd for a CREC event. Those in attendance had …
Forecast for Southern Hemisphere Citrus Production
The World Citrus Organisation’s (WCO) preliminary forecast for the 2024 Southern Hemisphere citrus season projects total production will decrease 0.77% from the prior year. Production for Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Africa and Uruguay is estimated at 24.34 million tons this year. The WCO broke the forecast down by variety: CLIMATIC CONDITIONS IMPACT PRODUCTION The Southern Hemisphere’s 2024 …
Global Orange and OJ Production to Increase
Global orange and orange juice production are both forecast to increase slightly in 2023–24 from the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). ORANGES Global orange production for 2023–24 is forecast up slightly to 48.8 million tons compared to the prior year. Here’s the country-by-country forecast from USDA FAS: U.S. production is forecast …
Waxing the Right Way
An article about citrus waxing was recently published by Citrus Australia. The article, written by John Golding, a research horticulturist with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, is summarized here. Waxing citrus can help maintain quality and enhance the fruit’s appearance. However, using the wrong type of wax or applying an excessively thick layer can overly restrict gas …
Aging Farmers Contribute to Japan’s Citrus Downtrend
Japan’s citrus planted area and production are on a long-term downward trend. Reasons cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) are aging farmers, labor shortages and a lack of successors for running farms. In a December annual report, USDA FAS summarized production, planted area and trade for each of Japan’s citrus varieties. TANGERINES/MANDARINS After a …
Increased Production of Citrus Crops in China
China production forecasts are increased for both mandarin/tangerine and grapefruit/pomelo crops in 2023–24 compared to the prior year. The forecasts were issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). MANDARINS/TANGERINES China’s mandarin/tangerine production is forecast at 26.9 million metric tons (MMT) in 2023–24, up from 26.5 MMT the previous year. The increase is because of a …
California Researchers Seek HLB Tolerance
University of California, Riverside (UCR) has received three federal grants totaling more than $11 million for research focused on instilling HLB-tolerance in citrus trees. The grants are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The funding was enabled by the 2018 Agricultural Improvement Act, which authorized the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Development …
Finger Lime Interest Expands in Florida
Florida is not a major producer of finger limes — yet. Australia has the most finger lime acreage in the world, and most U.S. finger limes are grown in California and Hawaii. But Florida’s acreage is expanding, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) horticulturist Manjul Dutt reported during a Dec. 20 presentation at the Citrus Research …
Queensland Fruit Fly Quarantine in California
Portions of Ventura and Los Angeles counties have been placed under quarantine for the Queensland fruit fly (QFF), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced in late October. The quarantine followed the detection of two adult QFFs within the city of Thousand Oaks in Ventura County. The quarantine area measures 76 square miles. It is bordered on the …
FFVA Endorses Glyphosate Renewal in Europe
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) recently submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service endorsing the European Union’s (EU) 10-year registration renewal efforts for glyphosate. In the letter, FFVA stressed that glyphosate herbicide has been used safely and successfully in Europe for more than 40 years. It noted that leading health regulators, including in Europe, the …
$5 Million Awarded to UF/IFAS for HLB Research
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has been awarded five federal grants totaling more than $5 million to control HLB. The grants are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). HLB is caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). The Asian citrus psyllid can transmit CLas into a …