An Extension agent shares current citrus crop conditions in The Sunshine State and more.
The state of the Florida citrus industry is the focus of much scrutiny, and everyone from citrus growers to orange juice lovers wants to hear good news about citrus crop conditions and anything positive to do with the citrus industry in The Sunshine State. Multi-county citrus Extension agent Chris Oswalt shared on the state of the Florida citrus crop conditions and more at the Citrus Expo in August, which was relayed in a Citrus Industry article. See a summary of his positive news below.
Details on Florida Citrus Crop Conditions and More
Citrus Crop Conditions: Oswalt said, “After all the rainfall we’ve had, and we’ve had quite a bit of good rainfall this past month … the trees themselves look good. The crop seems to be sizing up fairly well for this time of the year. So things are rather, I think, optimistic at this point. We’ll see how things hang on the tree as we go into the fall.”
Plantings. Oswalt said, “I do notice when I go up on the Ridge that there are new groves starting to sprout up, so to speak, in different areas that have not had trees recently. And that, I think, is a testament to the overall feeling of some of those growers that they have a better handle on how we’re going to move forward with some of our new rootstocks (and) varieties … I’m assuming because they’re doing this they feel confident in the future.”
Fighting Citrus Greening. Oswalt said, ““We didn’t have all the information that we have today from all the research that we’ve done with IFAS (University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences) and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture), and some growers have fine-tuned and dialed-in on their production programs. And I think they’re feeling better than they did eight or 10 years ago, and they’re feeling a little bit more confident about it.”
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.