Polk County, Fla., Citrus Crop Falls to Second in State Production

Sep. 23–LAKELAND — Polk County citrus has fallen from the top of the tree.

The county ranked second in total production among the state’s citrus-producing counties for the 2004-05 season.

Hendry County emerged as the state’s top citrus producer, while Highlands County placed third.

Polk, the top dog of the 2003-04 season, had 24.8 million boxes, down from 42.2 million boxes the year before. Hendry recorded 29.6 million boxes, and Highlands posted 21.3 million, both decreases from the year prior.

The Florida Agricultural Statistics Service (FASS) released the data Thursday.

Statewide, citrus production totaled 169.1 million boxes, down 42 percent from the 2003-04 season. Production fell in each county.

“The primary reason for the reduced crop is the unprecedented three hurricanes and one tropical storm that passed through the state in August and September 2004,” the report stated. The FASS is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The $742.2 million preliminary value of the 2004-05 citrus crop is the lowest since 1985-86. Last season’s value, $891.5 million, was down 16.7 percent from the previous year.

“It’s not a big surprise,” said Casey Pace, a spokeswoman for Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, the state’s largest growers’ representative. “Actually, prices were up a little bit, but I think the lower amount of fruit we had really had an impact (on the total crop value).”

The state’s orange crop, 149.6 million boxes, was the lowest since the 1991-92 season. Navel production, at 2.5 million boxes, was the lowest since 1986-87.

Hendry County produced the most oranges, followed by Polk and Highlands counties. St. Lucie County remained the top grapefruit producer, while Polk led in production of tangelos, 459,000 boxes, and tangerines, 1 million boxes.

Although Polk faced more hurricane damage than Hendry or Highlands counties last year, development might also have been a factor in last season’s totals, said Gene Albrigo, citrus horticult ure professor at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.

“Polk County is losing a lot of acreage to development over time, whereas Hendry has been steadily increasing land put into citrus,” he said.

—–

To see more of The Ledger — including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings — or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.theledger.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.