Elizabeth Steger, president of Citrus Consulting International, has forecast Florida’s 2020-21 orange crop at 62 million boxes. That is 8.35 percent fewer oranges than the 67.65 million boxes the state produced last season. (See the final 2019-20 season forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) here.)
Steger has been forecasting the size of Florida’s orange crop prior to the initial USDA forecast for many years. The first USDA forecast for the 2020-21 season is scheduled for Oct. 9.
“We are forecasting 27 million boxes for early-midseason (oranges), including 0.75 million boxes of navels, and 35 million boxes of Valencia,” Steger stated. Last season, Florida produced 29.65 million boxes of non-Valencia oranges and 38 million boxes of Valencias.
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