California citrus acreage: grapefruit down, limes up

The Pacific Regional Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts a…

The Pacific Regional Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts an acreage survey of California citrus growers to provide annual information on new plantings and removals.

This report consists of two parts:

Table 1 shows estimated statewide bearing acreage for the 2013-14 to 2014-15 seasons.

Tables 2, 3, and 4 show detailed acreage data by type, variety, and year planted — as voluntarily reported by citrus growers and maintained in NASS’ database.

With perfect information, the estimated statewide bearing acreage and the detailed acreage data would be the same. Generally, this will not be the case for the following reasons:

A voluntary survey of approximately 4,300 citrus growers is unlikely to ever attain 100 percent completeness.

It is difficult for USDA, NASS to detect growers who are planting citrus for the first time.