BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 According to the latest forecast by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Florida Orange production increased slightly while grapefruit production held steady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The June report projects the state\u2019s orange crop to increase by 500,000 boxes to\u00a068.5 million for the 2016-17 season. The Grapefruit crop held steady at 7.8 million boxes and Specialty dipped by 10,000 to 1.62 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis has been a particularly tough season for Florida Citrus growers with greening and other traditional crop challenges. An increase in 500,000 boxes could be easily dismissed but in this context it is a celebration and shows that these growers are still fighting with everything they\u2019ve got,\u201d said Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus.<\/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 more than\u00a045,000 people, provides an annual economic impact of $8.6 billion 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 FloridaCitrus.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Florida Grapefruit held steady BARTOW, Fla. \u2013 According to the latest forecast by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Florida Orange production increased slightly while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":258,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[105,100,101],"fdoc_citrus_type":[110],"fdoc_health_category":[116],"class_list":["post-4253","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-crop-forecasts","fdoc_news_item_category-industry","fdoc_news_item_category-orange-production","fdoc_citrus_type-grapefruit","fdoc_health_category-vitamin-c-rich"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t