This year's Texan citrus crop, which is set to be harvested in September and run through until May, is forecast by industry specialists to increase after two years of reduced volumes.
Around three-quarters of the state's annual citrus production is grapefruit.
An increase in production for 2009/10 would be in stark contrast to last season's 12 per cent drop in volumes to 278 tonnes of fruit – a consequence of Hurricane Dolly, which hit southern Texas in July 2008.
'Based on historical trends in citrus production here, the 2008/09 citrus harvest should have been up by 5 or 6 per cent from the year before,' Texas AgriLife Extension Service citrus specialist Dr Julian Sauls told Texas A&M AgriLife. 'Instead, it was down nearly 12 per cent.'
Dr Sauls said that this season should see production return to the pattern of an 'up year' following last season's 'down year' in terms of crop size, mainly attributed to yo-yoing grapefruit production in the state which makes up 70-75 per cent of the US$200m (€143.4m) citrus crop.
'This should be an up year,' he said. 'It should come back really strong after two consecutive down years.'
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