Florida’s iconic citrus industry remains on path for one of the worst growing seasons in decades, according to the latest orange crop reports.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest forecast is for 71 million, 90-pound boxes. That’s down slightly from the 72 million boxes projected in November and December.
But it’s up slightly from initial projections earlier this year.
Overall, the 2016-2017 season is substantially below the nearly 82 million boxes from the year before.
Before citrus greening decimated the state, growers hit a high of 244 million boxes in 1997-1998.
