Dueling orange crop forecasts have some Florida growers in a quandary.

Louis Dreyfus Citrus Inc., a Winter Garden juice processor and subsidiary of the Louis Dreyfus Group, a French conglomerate, expects the state's growers to produce 141 million boxes of oranges during the 2009-2010 season, down significantly from this season's 162.1 million boxes, and a figure that would mean strong prices for growers, according to the Lakeland Ledger.

But forecaster Elizabeth Steger of Orlando-based Citrus Consulting International Inc. expects to see 154 million boxes, which likely would mean significantly lower prices for growers than a 141-million-box crop.

The 154-million figure is "bearish for farm prices," Tom Spreen, a leading citrus industry economist from the University of Florida in Gainesville, told the newspaper. "The market has shrunk to the point where 150 million boxes will just about supply the entire U.S. market for orange juice."

Much of the coming crop already has been contracted, but now growers who still have oranges to sell may decide to wait until the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues its first official crop forecast Oct. 9 before committing to a price, the newspaper reported.

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