USDA Is Wrong on Oranges and Hurricane Irma, Florida Growers Group Says
Florida Orange Crop Seen Plunging to 71-Year Low
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s first estimate for this season’s orange crop in Florida -- and its first since Hurricane Irma -- was made too soon, is too high and probably inaccurate, according to an unusual rebuke from the state’s largest growers organization.
“The agency could not accurately account for the full extent of the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Irma” last month, Florida Citrus Mutual said Thursday in a statement, less than an hour after the USDA released its numbers in Washington. “Historically, the USDA has a high margin of error in crop years with a natural disaster.”