The preliminary on-tree value of the 1998-99 crop surpassed $1.1 billion and is higher than the revised values for the previous six seasons. It is 12.3 percent greater than the revised value of $1.0 billion for 1997-98, which reflects a five percent increase over the preliminary value. Price per box and value of production was higher for every fruit type. Total production at 243 million boxes was down 20 percent from the record 1997-98 season.

    Orange production fell 24 percent below the record crop of 1997-98. Higher values for early-midseason-Navel fruit and all oranges reflect the much improved prices. The Valencia price per box was 17 percent higher and the price of Navels more than doubled. Of the early-midseason-Navel fruit utilized fresh, 59 percent were Navels.

    Grapefruit production decreased this season with the smallest recorded seedy grapefruit crop and white seedless the smallest since 1969-70. Although colored seedless grapefruit was below the level of the two previous seasons, the high est on record, it matched or exceeded all other prior seasons.

    Utilization increased for acid fruit and K-Early Citrus. Production of K-Earlys doubled, lemons were up 96 percent, and limes increased for the fifth consecutive season. Decreases were recorded for the other specialty fruit. Temples are at the lowest level for any non-freeze season in the 45 year series. During the 44 year series, tangelo production peaked at 6.4 million boxes in 1979-80, and this season's production was the second smallest in 30 years. Although production of tangerines was down in each of the categories, it was above the recent five year average for honey and all tangerines. In the early category, the new varieties, Sunburst and Fallglo, now account for 90 percent of production.

    Prices for the 1998-99 season are preliminary and will be revised next September when the results of all participation plans and pools become final. Revised prices are shown for 1997-98.

    The table on page 8 shows a breakdown of citrus prices for all fruit types by fresh and processed usage for 1998-99 and the two previous seasons.

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    Polk Co. led in orange production with 24.6 million boxes closely followed by Hendry with 24.0 million boxes. DeSoto and Highlands each contributed over 21 million boxes and Hardee came in fifth with 17.1 million boxes. Early and midseason fruit comprised nearly 58 percent of the harvest, Valencias tallied 40 percent, with the remainder being the Navel variety.

    In the Indian River District, St. Lucie Co. with 17.4 million boxes and Indian River with 12.2 million boxes are the state's top grapefruit producers providing 63 percent of the total crop. Leaders among the other areas were Hendry Co. with 3.6 million boxes and Polk with 2.9 million boxes.

    Polk Co. produced the most specialty fruit, over 2.1 million boxes, and led in tangerine and tangelo production. Highlands raised the most Temples and Lake Co. provided 55 percent of the K-Early Citrus crop. St. Lucie and Hendry Counties were also among the leading producers of the specialty varieties.

    Estimates of county production are prepared from objective survey data used in forecasting citrus crop production. The apportionment of final harvest to the counties is based on bear- ing trees from the biennial Commercial Citrus Inventory; the limb county survey, which provides an estimate of the average fruit per tree; and the drop and size surveys, which provide estimates of the amount of fruit on the tree available at harvest, and the size of the fruit at that time. The size of the samples used in these surveys and the distribution of the sample groves around the state are chosen to minimize the error in the estimates of production and are not to be considered as accurate for the counties as at the state or area level.

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    The Florida Agricultural Statistics Service conducts objective surveys to determine fruit per tree, average sizes, and droppage between August and maturity. These data are used to estimate production per tree for each of four types of citrus fruit, as shown in the following tables.
    The estimates of production per tree are based on official end-of-season production estimates and the number of bearing trees indicated by the citrus tree inventory surveys. The averages of boxes per tree for age groups shown are calculated from estimates of fruit per tree in August, size at maturity, and drop between August and maturity.
    Additionally, the boxes are subdivided by production areas. Estimated boxes by types and age groups are weighted averages of the indicated seasons. Small sample sizes in some age/area cells and rounding may contribute to inconsistant averages.

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    Tree numbers shown below are forecast trees of bearing age for the 1998-99 season. Total bearing trees increased from the previous season for the orange varieties but decreased for the white and colored seedless grapefruit. With trees maturing, a population shift occurred with the increase of bearing trees in Age 3 (9-13 years) and corresponding decreases in younger trees for each of the fruit types listed. Unidentified trees of bearing age are prorated to identified types by year in which set. Most of these are first year bearing trees which will be identified in the field during the next tree census.

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