VERO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Florida citrus growers may finally be seeing some signs of a turnaround.<\/p>\n
The latest USDA Florida citrus crop forecast is out on Friday.<\/p>\n
It shows the forecast for orange production in Florida is up about 2% from the January 2026 forecast, and the Florida grapefruit forecast is up 4%.<\/p>\n
However, the overall citrus harvest remains below the 2024-2025 harvest, which was the lowest in more than 100 years. <\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s citrus industry has taken some tough hits over the years.<\/p>\n
Citrus trees near Vero Beach. (CBS12 News)<\/p>\n
Growers aren\u2019t anywhere near the production levels they once had and still face challenges due to citrus greening, a recent freeze and the threat of hurricanes each year.<\/p>\n
“I remain very positive. I’m a glass, half-full guy. We do have some things that are working, we have methodologies that are working to sustain the new generation of trees. The older trees are more or less gone. They are not going to survive the greening. So what we’re doing is we’re planting new trees with new therapies, with a multitude of different approaches to that, so that we can sustain these new trees,” said Dan Richey, CEO, Riverfront Packing Inc., Vero Beach.<\/p>\n