Florida’s citrus industry is dominating the state’s ag news as it fights citrus greening, also known as HLB. All eyes were turned to the latest USDA citrus forecast, which showed little change from the prior month’s forecast. Many in Florida’s citrus industry are eager to see positive results from the use of bactericides, an agent that was approved for emergency use against HLB in the spring of 2016. Ano

Highlights from the State of the Citrus Industry Survey

According to a GrowingProduce.com article, the parent company to Florida Grower Magazine, the Florida citrus industry is “bully for bactericides.” Questions and key findings included:

  • To the question, “Are Your Applying Bactericides To Your Groves?

-75% of citrus grove owners responded yes, they were applying bactericides to their citrus trees.

  • To the question, “How Many Times Per Season Are You Applying Bactericides?

-41% responded more than three times,

-36% responded three times

-22% responded twice

-1% responded once

  •  To the question, “If You Are Applying Bactericides, Have You Reduced Other Inputs For Economic Reasons? If So, What Inputs Have Been Cut Back?

-23% responded insecticides

-19% responded fertilizer

-10% responded fungicides

-10% responded herbicides

-39% responded ‘None of the Above’

  • To the question, “How Would You Rank Psyllid Populations In Your Grove?

-21% responded high

-44% responded medium

-35% responded

  • To the question, “If Psyllid Populations Are High, What Do You Account For The Increase? –

-34% responded ‘Fewer insecticide applications’

-7% responded ‘Potential Resistance’

-595 responded ‘All of the Above’

  •  To the question: “How Many Psyllid Control Applications Are You Making Per Year?

-6% responded more than 12

-33% responded 8 to 12

-33% responded 4 to 8

-28% responded 0 to 4

  • To the question, “While Fighting HLB, What Range Are You Shooting For When It Comes To Per-Acre Input Costs?

-13% responded $2,000 and above

-35% responded $1,500 to $2,000

-24% responded $1,000 to $1,500

-28% responded $500 to $1,000

The survey included additional data concerning more general factors about the Florida citrus industry, which will be detailed in part 2 of the blog.

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.