BARTOW, Fla.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The final crop report of the season issued Tuesday by the\u00a0National Agricultural Statistics Service<\/a>\u00a0of the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected a slight increase\u00a0over last month in the size of this season\u2019s Florida Orange crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The July\u00a0forecast\u00a0estimated\u00a0Florida Orange production for the 2015-16 season at 81.5 million boxes, an increase of 100,000 boxes. Florida Grapefruit production\u00a0was\u00a0projected at 10.85 million boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Florida Department of Citrus Executive Director Shannon Shepp, \u201cAs another season comes to a close, we reflect on the many highs and lows our industry has experienced in the last year. Through it all, one constant has remained: the amazing inside Florida Citrus. While we certainly expect more challenges to come, we look forward to the opportunities a new season brings to promote and protect our beloved American icon.\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\u00a0<\/em>FloridaCitrus.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The forecast places oranges at 81.5 million boxes and grapefruit at 10.85 million boxes. BARTOW, Fla.\u00a0\u2013 The final crop report of the season issued Tuesday by the\u00a0National Agricultural Statistics Service\u00a0of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":238,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[101],"fdoc_citrus_type":[],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4241","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-orange-production"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4241","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\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4241"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}