Florida orange crop forecast improves

Florida orange crop forecast improves

For the second consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its estimate of the 2015-2016 Florida orange crop, predicting growers will produce 76 million boxes, a 7 percent increase.

A 5 million box rise in Valencias to 40 million accounted for the jump.

Early and mid-season varieties which have been harvested already stayed at 36 million boxes.

"It's nice to be in expansion rather than reduction mode while knowing growers are still producing a quality crop," said Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual.

"But our industry remains at historically low production levels as we continue to battle HLB, or citrus greening."

The USDA's estimate of the 2015-2016 Florida grapefruit crop remained at 10.7 million boxes. Specialty citrus decreased a fraction to 1.79 million boxes. The yield for frozen concentrate orange juice (FCOJ) is 1.42 gallons per 90-pound box.

CareerSource Suncoast to host hiring events

VENICE -- CareerSource Suncoast and RGIS, LLC will host hiring events from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the CareerSource Suncoast Venice career center, 897 E. Venice Ave. and Thursday, April 21, at the Bradenton Career Center, 1112 E. Manatee Ave.

According to a release from CareerSource Suncoast: RGIS, LLC provides inventory services for retail, healthcare and manufacturing.

Interviews will be conducted for part-time inventory auditors with flexible hours from 20 to 40 per week.

There are 60 positions available with pay starting at $9 per hour.

No appointment is needed for these hiring events but applicants are asked to arrive ready to interview. Prior to the event, submit an application online at rgis.com.

Storage investor buys Parrish facility

PARRISH--A national real estate trust has bought into the Manatee County self-storage industry in a $4.2 million in a deal that puts a 3-year-old storage facility into its portfolio.

Parrish Xpress Storage, one of the storage buildings once controlled by the president of Whitfield-based Hide-Away Storage, Steve Wilson, is now owned by National Storage Affiliates. The 39,240-square-foot building changed hands April 1.

In February, Wilson announced a $115 million deal that deal puts Hide-Away Storage Services under the umbrella of Denver-based NSA.

Hide-Away, which operates 16 storage facilities spanning more than 1 million square feet in Manatee and Sarasota counties, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers and Naples, remains locally managed.

-- Staff and wire reports

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Florida orange crop forecast improves ."