ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida is on pace to produce the smallest crop of oranges in more than 75 years.
A forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released last week says the Sunshine State is on pace to produce 44.5 million 90-pound boxes of oranges during the current season. That's a 1.5-million box reduction from the previous forecast in December.
For years, citrus greening has plagued orange farms. The disease suffocates the fruit, shrinking it and causing it to prematurely drop from branches. However, it's not clear from the federal report if citrus greening is solely to blame for the reduced forecast.
Research on citrus greening is ongoing. Growers have tried new techniques over the years like putting fertilizer right on top of the root so the tree can quickly absorb the necessary nutrients. But, so far, there's been no silver bullet.
The variety of oranges that saw the biggest reduction in the latest forecast was Valencia oranges. According to the report, Valencia production was cut down one million boxes from the December forecast.
Following last week's USDA report, the Wall Street Journal reports that the cost of frozen concentrated orange-juice futures doubled to $1.50 a pound.
If the current forecast holds true through the rest of the citrus growing season, it will be the smallest orange crop since the 1944-1945 season when the state produced 42.3 million boxes of oranges.
The citrus growing season in Florida lasts from fall into late spring.
10 Tampa Bay's Andrew Quintana contributed to this report.