FEATURE | e d i t i o n
Annual Citrus Report Growers Faced Familiar Challenges, But Late Rally Holds Hope for the Future by TIM CRAIG
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JULY MARKS THE END OF THE 2020-2021 Florida citrus season, and for some growers, it’s been a season of both surprises and challenges. While there was a possible ray of positive news late in the season, there are longterm issues the industry continues to battle. As the season got underway, the USDA’s official October forecast predicted 57 million cases from Florida groves — a somewhat significant 15 percent drop from 2019-2020 final output of 67.3 million. The numbers continued to slide through the season, according to the monthly USDA forecast updates. In December, the forecast dropped to 56 million. In January it dropped to 54 million. By April and May, the forecast had dropped to 51.7 million. June’s forecast update saw a slight late-season rally, up to 52.7 million boxes — 30 million for Valencia and 22.7 million boxes for non-Valencia oranges. The final forecast is scheduled to be published in mid- to late July. Final totals will be published later this year. For growers, the season provided new challenges but also new points of hope. “It was kind of a confusing season — we met our expected yield count, but the fruit quality
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levels were way down and we had trouble meeting the minimum brix levels pretty much all season,” said Charles Counter of Counter Ag Services in Haines City. “That was the biggest thing; but overall, the fruit prices were good and yield was OK.” Counter said that part of the confusion through the year included what he described as a “beautiful, uniform bloom” that he had not seen in the past several years and which gave him hope for a higher-than-expected crop. However, after the bloom, the effects of the drought hit the trees hard. “We went 45 days without rain, and that’s when the trees needed it the most,” he says. “That’s something we haven’t experienced before. The trees used all of their stored carbohydrates during that uniform bloom and when the rains didn’t come, their health suffered.” The lack of rain and the long-term effects of
greening took a toll on the trees, particularly the older ones. Counter said he saw a lot of dropped leaves and fallen branches. He started a regimen of spray fertilizers to feed the root system and to try to build the trees back up and get the crop back on track. The extra efforts paid off, particularly in the younger trees. “The young trees responded well and have pretty much recovered by now,” he says. “Among our older trees, though, the recovery has been slower.” For Rob Petteway of Petteway Citrus and Cattle in Zolfo Springs, the bloom was a good sign; but that was before the effects of the drought. “When that bloom happened, I thought, ‘This is going to be great,’ but by May 1, the groves looked terrible, with dead limbs, especially on the trees that were 20-plus years old,” says Petteway. “But now when I go out to the groves, I see that things are looking stronger. Since FloridaAgNews.com
