Florida Agriculture: The Statewide Farm and Citrus Guides

The Florida agriculture section holds two statewide guides: the Florida agriculture overview, which sizes the state's farm economy, and the Florida citrus canker and greening guide, which explains the two bacterial diseases behind the long citrus decline.

The Florida agriculture overview covers the statewide numbers a newcomer, student or grower asks for first: how many Florida farms there are, how much land they work, which commodities bring in the most money, which counties lead and where Florida ranks among the states. The Florida citrus canker and greening guide narrows to one crop and two diseases, from the 1995 canker outbreak and the eradication campaign that ended in 2006 to the arrival of greening in Miami-Dade County, the Asian citrus psyllid and the rules for a backyard citrus tree.

This hub answers the shared Florida farm questions directly and points to the guide that goes deeper on each. Every figure here comes from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) or UF/IFAS, and each carries the period it describes, because Florida farm statistics mix 2022 Census of Agriculture counts, 2023 cash receipts, 2024 production values and the 2025 to 2026 citrus season.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website and the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Florida reports.

Florida had 44,400 commercial farms on 9.7 million acres in 2024, with an average Florida farm of 218 acres, in the USDA figures that FDACS posts (FDACS).

Most Florida farms are small operations. Only 6,400 farms had sales exceeding $100,000 in 2024, and Florida ranks 16th among all states in number of farms and 29th in land in farms (FDACS). The FDACS series puts the farm count at 46,800 in 2020 and 44,400 in 2024 while total land in farms held at 9.7 million acres, and the average Florida farm grew from 207 to 218 acres over those years (FDACS).

The 2022 Census of Agriculture, the five-year USDA count, gives the fuller Florida picture. It counted 44,703 farms, down 6 percent from 2017, on 9,701,400 acres, and those farms sold $10,224,600,000 of products, up 39 percent (USDA NASS 2022 Census of Agriculture, Florida profile). Net cash farm income was $2,354,440,000 in 2022, and 92 percent of Florida farms were family farms. Crops made up 79 percent of Florida sales and livestock, poultry and products 21 percent (USDA NASS).

Florida farmland is as much pasture and woods as fields. The 2022 census split land in Florida farms into 3,547,177 acres of pastureland, 2,874,871 acres of cropland and 2,349,120 acres of woodland (USDA NASS). Beyond farms, Florida has 17.16 million acres of forestland, half of the state's land area, and nearly two-thirds of it is privately owned (FDACS). On January 1, 2025, cattle and calves on Florida farms and ranches totaled 1.56 million head, the same as a year earlier, and Florida ranked ninth among the states in beef cows (FDACS).

Floriculture was the leading Florida crop commodity in 2023 cash receipts at $1.21 billion, vegetables and melons together brought in $1.66 billion, and only the catch-all other crops line, at $1.81 billion, was larger (FDACS).

Florida farm cash receipts totaled $9.24 billion in 2023, up 4 percent from $8.88 billion a year earlier, and crops accounted for 76 percent of the total (FDACS).

Florida's national weight shows in a handful of crops. In 2024 Florida produced 34 percent of the U.S. value of Valencia oranges, 33 percent of sweet corn, 32 percent of bell peppers and 29 percent of watermelons, and its strawberries were worth $540.3 million, 14 percent of the national value (FDACS). In the 2022 Census of Agriculture, Florida ranked second among the states in sales of vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes and second in nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod (USDA NASS). The Florida agriculture overview guide carries the full commodity breakdown.

Florida commercial citrus covered 165,359 acres in the preliminary August 2026 USDA inventory, down 21 percent from the last annual survey and down from 797,303 acres in 2002 (USDA NASS Commercial Citrus Inventory, 2026).

All 23 Florida counties published in the 2026 inventory showed decreases in citrus acreage. Polk County still leads with 37,529 acres, followed by Highlands County at 34,671 acres, and new plantings, at 5,200 acres, were down from the previous season (USDA NASS). Oranges make up 143,650 of the remaining Florida acres.

The fruit itself ticked up in the 2025 to 2026 season. All orange production rose 5 percent to 13.0 million boxes, and Valencia orange production rose 7 percent to 8.18 million boxes, in the USDA citrus summary dated August 27, 2026 (USDA NASS Citrus Summary 2025-2026).

Citrus greening, also called huanglongbing or HLB, is the disease FDACS ranks among the most serious citrus diseases in the world. It was found for the first time in the U.S. in south Miami-Dade County in August 2005; it is a bacterial disease that attacks the vascular system of plants, and it spreads mainly through citrus psyllids, plus grafting and movement of infected plants (FDACS, HLB Citrus Greening). FDACS notes that the disease does not spread by wind and rain or by casual contact with workers and tools. The Florida citrus canker and greening guide covers both diseases, the end of canker eradication and what Florida rules mean for a backyard tree.

Palm Beach County led Florida in 2022 farm sales at $1.25 billion, ahead of Miami-Dade County at $1.14 billion and Hillsborough County at $704 million, in the Census of Agriculture figures FDACS posts (FDACS).

Hendry County, fourth in 2022 sales at $633 million, ranks first in land in farms at 586,858 acres, ahead of Osceola and Polk counties (FDACS; USDA NASS). Osceola County shows how far sales and land can split: second in farmland at 584,279 acres, it posted $99 million in 2022 sales. The Florida agriculture overview guide lists the full county ranking.

These Florida county rankings will not change until the next Census of Agriculture: FDACS states that the county sales data come from the five-year census and that the next update will be in 2029 (FDACS).

FDACS, headed by Commissioner Wilton Simpson, is the state agency behind Florida farm programs, and UF/IFAS Extension has offices in all 67 Florida counties (FDACS; UF/IFAS Extension).

On water, FDACS handles enrollment in agricultural Best Management Practices, Implementation Verifications and the Mobile Irrigation Lab program, compiles 20-year water-demand projections for agricultural self-suppliers, and can determine whether a farm activity qualifies for exemption from permitting when there is a dispute (FDACS, Best Management Practices). UF/IFAS Extension lists its staff county by county, from Alachua to Washington, in a dropdown on its office finder (UF/IFAS Extension).

One practical warning for anyone reading state farm pages in fall 2026: the FDACS agriculture statistics page still opens with a Hurricane Isaias office-closure banner and still reports the 2023 to 2024 citrus season, when Florida orange production was 18.0 million boxes (FDACS). The newer USDA citrus summary for 2025 to 2026 puts all Florida orange production at 13.0 million boxes (USDA NASS), so the NASS Florida citrus reports are the place to check current season numbers.

Two Florida agriculture guides sit under this hub: the Florida agriculture overview for the whole farm economy and the Florida citrus canker and greening guide for the citrus diseases.

Readers after the economics of Florida farming, from farm counts and land use to the leading counties and state rankings, should start with the Florida agriculture overview. Readers with a citrus question, whether about a commercial grove in Polk or Highlands County or a single orange tree in a Florida yard, should go to the Florida citrus canker and greening guide.