State's Citrus Crop Could Be Lowest On Record

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ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) — Things are not so sweet for Florida's orange growers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture have downgraded the state's orange crop forecast for this season.

Agriculture officials estimate that Florida would produce 103 million boxes of oranges in the current growing season. That's down five million boxes from the estimate released last month.

The forecast is smaller than the 104 million boxes produced last year, which was the lowest on record.

It also represents a total decline of 60 percent since the peak of citrus production at 254 million boxes in the 1997-1998 growing season.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says the forecast shows more needs to be done to fight the citrus greening disease, which has decimated Florida's citrus industry.

He says he's asking for $18 million this year to fight the disease.

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