By Seher Dareen and Marcelo Teixeira
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Early evaluations of the impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton in the citrus-growing area in Florida indicates production will fall further, likely to a record low, according to industry representatives and farmers.
Florida is the largest citrus producer in the United States, supplying oranges for the local juice industry. Most of the farms are located in the center-south part of the state, which was in the path of Milton.
Production losses amounted to up to 40% in some parts of the state, supply chain services provider Czarnikow said in a report on Tuesday.
“There is significant (orange) fruit drop from the storm, and lessons from previous years suggest that the storm-induced drop will continue over the next couple of months,” said Christopher Vincent, Associate Professor of Citrus Tree Ecophysiology at the University of Florida.
There was no severe damage to the branches and canopy of the trees, at least, he said, as wind-speeds were not as high as expected or did not last as long as in Hurricane Ian, for example.
Milton is estimated to have caused $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in damage to crops and agricultural infrastructure in the state.
Florida’s orange production is already going through difficult times, mostly due to greening, a bacterial infection that can spread quickly and has reduced planted area in the state by half in the last 20 years.
“It was already the lowest (production) on record, so this will make it even lower. It’s particularly discouraging because we finally had several therapies (for greening) that were working,” said Rick Dantzler of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation.
The United States Department of Agriculture earlier this month said orange production was projected to fall 16% in the 2024/25 season, before the impact of the hurricane was assessed.
Total orange production in the whole of the U.S. was estimated to be 5% below the previous season.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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