WAUCHULA, Fla. — A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows this month’s citrus production forecast in Florida is down 10% from an already rough December month.
Steve Johnson with Johnson Harvesting says there are a few reasons why farmers are facing challenges. One of the biggest setbacks was severe weather.
Hurricane Ian destroyed a lot of trees on Florida farms.
“Huge devastation from a couple of things like wind obviously being number one, the amount of time it took for the hurricane to get through this state just slowly battering away at us,” Johnson said.
He says it's not easy to bounce back after a storm like Hurricane Ian.
“When we plant a tree we know it's three to four years until we see fruit come off of that,” Johnson explained.
Like many businesses, citrus farmers also had to battle inflation this past year. Johnson says they saw the prices of fertilizers and other materials go up.
Although he is hoping for a better year ahead, Johnson says they are looking at the bigger picture.
“We are looking three to five years down the road,” he said.
In the meantime, Johnson says a lot of other businesses are getting their oranges imported from other countries to fill the demand.