BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 The first citrus crop update of the new year projected a decrease in this season\u2019s Florida orange production while Florida grapefruit held steady,\u00a0according to a report issued Monday by the\u00a0National Agricultural Statistics Service<\/a>\u00a0of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The January forecast<\/a> projected\u00a0Florida orange production for the 2014-15 season at 103 million boxes, a change of less than 5 percent from the previous estimate of 108 million boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Florida grapefruit production\u00a0was\u00a0projected to\u00a0remain \u2013\u00a0for the fourth month in a row \u2013 at 15 million boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesman for the USDA attributed the change in\u00a0orange production\u00a0to a decrease in the size of non-Valencia fruit as well as an increase in the rate of drop. Both are thought to be associated with citrus greening disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFlorida\u2019s growers continue to work hard to preserve the viability of their groves and the quality of the fruit,\u201d said Doug Ackerman, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. \u201cThe reduced forecast is consistent with anecdotal reports we\u2019ve heard as we travel the state, and the new numbers are still well within the range we have planned for here at the Department. The growers are focused, and so are we.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FDOC planned its budget for the current season on an initial estimate of 100 million boxes.\u00a0The 2013-14 Florida Citrus crop produced 104.6 million boxes of oranges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are no overnight fixes in our battle against citrus greening,\u201d Ackerman said. \u201cHowever, tree replanting programs, advances in scientific research and the commitment of our growers is helping ensure that we will reverse this downward trend in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n About the Florida Department of Citrus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Florida Department of Citrus is an executive agency of Florida government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry.\u00a0 Its activities are funded by a tax paid by growers on each box of citrus that moves through commercial channels.\u00a0 The industry employs nearly 62,000 people, provides an annual economic impact of nearly $10.7\u00a0billion to the state, and contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues that help support Florida\u2019s schools, roads and health care services. For more information about the Florida Department of Citrus, please visit\u00a0FloridaCitrus.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Florida grapefruit remained the same at 15 million boxes. BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 The first citrus crop update of the new year projected a decrease in this season\u2019s Florida orange production […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":189,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[105,80,100,101],"fdoc_citrus_type":[110,107],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4168","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-crop-forecasts","fdoc_news_item_category-fdoc","fdoc_news_item_category-industry","fdoc_news_item_category-orange-production","fdoc_citrus_type-grapefruit","fdoc_citrus_type-orange"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}