You're likely going to find it a lot more difficult and a more expensive to buy orange juice, oranges and other citrus. Owner of Schacht Groves in Vero Beach says lack of supply is affecting him.
Data points at impending orange shortages in US
Experts forecasted a decline in the number of harvested boxes of oranges back in August 2020. Official end-of-the-year numbers from the USDA published in December have confirmed their fears: Orange production for the entire country was down 11.8% for the year.
In California, the harvest was down 5.3%. In Texas, it went up 12.3%, but the state only produced 64,000 tons compared to California s 2,020,000. In Florida, orange production was down 16.8%, and the low numbers continue to worry industry experts. In general, as a grower in the state, we all have concerns about the industry, Louis Schacht, a third-generation citrus grower with a grove near Florida s Atlantic coast, stated. A lot of growers just didn t have the money to put into their crop for this season, so a lot of your production will be down because of that this year.