Florida orange industry might squeeze a 9% drop

The Florida orange crop output could fall 9% from last season due to citrus greening disease, according to a new forecast report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The forecast projects the statewide output for the 2012-2013 season will be 133.4 million orange boxes, according to a release from Florida Citrus Mutual, a Lakeland-based industry lobbying group. Florida produced 146.7 million boxes of oranges in the 2011-2012 season.

“This year's crop really shows the devastating effects of HLB, or citrus greening disease,” Florida Citrus Mutual Executive Vice President and CEO Michael Sparks says in the statement. “We had severe fruit drop and a lot of citrus from stressed trees with HLB ended up on the ground.”