Citrus forecast less chilling

The outlook for the state's orange crop brightened slightly in the latest federal forecast, which boosted the estimate of the season's yield by 2 million boxes compared with the February report.

Still, if the U.S. Department of Agriculture's March crop forecast, released Wednesday, holds, the 2009-10 harvest would be 19 percent below the 2008-09 season.

The USDA estimated Florida groves will produce 131 million boxes of oranges. In February, the USDA estimate was for 129 million boxes as agriculture officials assessed damage to trees and fruit from freezes the first week or so of the year.

The state's main citrus-producing region went through eight days of subfreezing weather Jan. 5 to 13.

The 2008-09 season saw groves produce 162.4 million boxes.

The March estimate puts this season's crop just ahead of the 2006-07 season's 129 million boxes. Growers that season were recovering from the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.

Despite the expected increase in oranges, the prediction for juice production dropped again to 1.53 gallons a box, down from 1.56 gallons in the February USDA estimate. In January, the USDA estimated juice production would be 1.6 gallons a box.

Last season, juice production totaled 1.66 gallons a box.

The higher March estimate was for all oranges except Valencia, the main juice orange and one of the later varieties to be harvested.

The estimate for Valencia oranges remained the same as the February outlook, 63 million boxes, accounting for nearly half of Florida's orange crop.

Grove owners stepped up harvesting after the freezes, and plants processed more fruit than normal in January and February, the UDSA report states. Nearly all the non-Valencia oranges have been harvested.

Grove inspections March 1 and 2 showed slightly more damage to fruit than surveys reflected in February. In February, inspectors found 4 percent of the oranges had freeze damage a half-inch deep in the fruit. March inspections found 6 percent of the fruit damaged.