California, for decades the No. 2 grower, is roaring into the lead as the largest orange-producing state in the nation, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. It forecast an orange crop of 1.84 million tons in California this season, more than double Florida’s projected hurricane-damaged harvest of 720,000 tons.
The decline in Florida is so large that U.S. orange production, estimated at 2.6 million tons, would be just three-fourths of the 3.5 million tons produced in the 2021/22 season, said the USDA in its monthly Crop Production report.
Hurricanes Ian and Nicole pummeled Florida’s orange groves last fall as the crop neared maturity, knocking the fruit off the trees. Orange production is down 61 percent from last season and will be the smallest since the 1935-36 crop. Citrus greening disease, a long-standing challenge, also is cutting into production.
Orange production in California has been fairly steady, with around 140,000 acres bearing fruit. Its five-year production average was 1.9 million tons.
Last season, Florida produced 1.847 million tons or oranges and California produced 1.6 million tons.