In the heart of the Sunshine State, a bitter reality has taken hold. The once-thriving citrus groves that blanketed Florida’s landscape and fueled its economy have been decimated by a relentless barrage of hurricanes and an insidious, untreatable disease known as citrus greening. The result is a industry teetering on the brink, with production plummeting to levels not seen in nearly a century.
A Harvest of Despair
The numbers paint a grim picture. The USDA forecasts a mere 12 million boxes of oranges will be produced in Florida by the end of 2024, a staggering 95% drop from the 242 million boxes harvested just two decades prior in 2004. To put that in perspective, Brazil, now the world’s top orange producer, is expected to yield 378 million boxes this year alone.
For Florida’s growers, many of whom come from generations of citrus farmers, the decline has been devastating both financially and emotionally. Faced with rising costs and dwindling returns, some have made the agonizing decision to sell their land to developers, trading in their livelihoods for housing developments and solar farms.
The Scourge of Citrus Greening
At the root of the industry’s woes is citrus greening, a bacterial disease spread by the invasive Asian citrus psyllid insect. Also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, it causes leaves to yellow and fruit to turn bitter and misshapen, making affected oranges unsuitable for juicing. Over the past 20 years, greening has infected over 75% of Florida’s citrus trees, with no cure in sight despite extensive research efforts.
Things down here started going downhill after Hurricane Irma in 2017, and after that, basically, we lost acreage and we lost membership. Throw in a couple more hurricanes and greening, and it’s been extremely tough.
– Wayne Simmons, LaBelle Fruit Company
No Port in a Storm
As if battling a pervasive disease wasn’t enough, Florida’s growers have also had to contend with increasingly frequent and destructive hurricanes. The 2024 season alone saw both Hurricane Helene and the catastrophic Hurricane Milton rip through the state, uprooting trees and devastating over 70% of productive groves just weeks before harvest.
The compounded impacts of greening and storms have left many growers with little choice but to abandon the industry entirely. Associations like the Gulf Citrus Growers have disbanded as membership dwindles and more land is sold off with each passing season.
A Bitter Prognosis
Despite the tireless work of researchers seeking solutions, the outlook for Florida citrus remains clouded at best. With no cure for greening, growers’ best hope lies in developing resistant tree varieties, a long and costly process that offers little immediate relief. And as climate change amplifies the threat of powerful hurricanes, the risk to remaining groves only grows.
You’re talking a decade from getting such a tree before you really modify the orange juice market worldwide, so there’s hope, but while we’re doing all this waiting, more and more people just keep going out of business.
– Malcolm Manners, Florida Southern College
The Sunshine Dream Fades
As Florida orange juice, once a staple on American breakfast tables, becomes a pricey rarity, the state’s identity as a citrus paradise fades along with it. For generations, the fragrant orange blossoms and roadside fruit stands have been as much a part of Florida’s allure as its sandy beaches. Now, that legacy is at risk of being permanently lost.
Some growers, however, remain determined to weather this storm, driven by a deep love for their livelihood and a refusal to let this iconic industry perish. With a mix of stubborn resolve and desperate optimism, they continue to tend their battered groves, hoping for a breakthrough that may never come. For in Florida, oranges are more than a commodity – they’re a way of life, a dream of sunshine that refuses to be extinguished.
Only time will tell if the Sunshine State can reclaim its citrus crown, or if the once-sweet dream will be left a bitter memory, rotting in the Florida sun.
