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Citrus Land In Florida Down 2.3 Percent This Year

Lakeland Ledger – September 22, 2011

LAKE WALES | Commercial citrus growing in Florida continues to shrink in size, if not profitability.

Total citrus land in Florida fell 2.3 percent this year to 541,328 acres, continuing a decline that began in 1996, when the state had 853,742 commercial acres, according to the latest census data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

On the positive side, the value of Florida’s commercial citrus crop (excluding lemons and limes) exceeded $1 billion for the sixth consecutive season, the USDA reported. The 2010-11 crop totaled a preliminary $1.145 billion, up 2.4 percent from a revised $1.1 billion value for the 2009-10 crop.

Another positive number is that abandoned citrus groves declined to 136,534 acres, the first decline since 2009, when the USDA began compiling that data.

And Polk County hit the trifecta in key measurements of citrus strength.

Polk led the state in total citrus production last season with 29.8 million 13/5-bushel boxes, the standard industry measure. It also led Florida in commercial citrus land with 82,577 acres and in the trees counts at 9.9 million orange, grapefruit, tangerine and tangelo trees.

Polk traditionally leads the state in production and acreage, but it had trailed Hendry County during the last decade in tree numbers. The change appears to reflect more infections of citrus greening, a deadly bacterial disease, in Hendry and other counties farther south of Polk.

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