The latest citrus forecast numbers this season have seen a slight uptick, but they fall far short of previous years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month’s harvest is estimated to produce two million boxes more than the initial forecast from October. But the new 72 million box projection falls below the 81.6 million boxes that were filled in the 2015-2016 season, a season considered the worst of the state in the past five decades.
Florida accounted for 49 percent of total U.S. citrus production in the past season. The citrus industry fights an uphill battle—not only against the deadly bacterial disease known as “citrus greening,” but with reductions in agricultural land as well.
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