LAKE WALES, Fla. (AP) \u2014 As Trevor Murphy pulls up to his dad\u2019s 20-acre (8-hectare) grove in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, he points to the cookie-cutter, one-story homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides.
\n\u201cAt some point, this isn\u2019t going to be an orange grove anymore,\u201d Murphy, a third-generation grower, says as he gazes at the rows of trees in Lake Wales, Florida. \u201cYou look around here, and it\u2019s all houses, and that\u2019s going to happen here.\u201d
\nPolk County, which includes Lake Wales, contains more acres of citrus than any other county in Florida. And in 2023, more people moved to Polk County than any other county in the country.<\/p>\n
Population growth, hurricanes, and a vicious citrus greening disease have left the Florida orange industry reeling. Consumers are drinking less orange juice, citrus growers are folding up their operations in the state, and the major juice company Tropicana is struggling to stay afloat. With huge numbers of people moving into Florida\u2019s orange growing areas, developers are increasingly building homes on what were once orange groves.
\nMany growers are now making the difficult decision to sell orange groves that have been in their families for generations to developers building homes to house the growing population.
\nOthers, like Murphy, are sticking it out, hoping to survive until a bug-free tree or other options arrive to repel the disease or treat the trees.<\/p>\n
When Hurricane Irma blasted through the state\u2019s orange belt in 2017, Florida\u2019s signature crop already had been on a downward spiral for two decades because of the greening disease. Next came a major freeze and two more hurricanes in 2022, followed by two hurricanes last year. A tree that loses branches and foliage in a hurricane can take three years to recover, Murphy said.
\nThose catastrophes contributed to a 90% decline in orange production over the past two decades. Citrus groves in Florida, which covered more than 832,00 acres (336,698 hectares) at the turn of the century, populated scarcely 275,000 acres (111,288 hectares) last year, and California has eclipsed Florida as the nation\u2019s leading citrus producer.
\n\u201cLosing the citrus industry is not an option. This industry is \u2026 so ingrained in Florida. Citrus is synonymous with Florida,\u201d Matt Joyner, CEO of trade association Florida Citrus Mutual told Florida lawmakers recently.<\/p>\n
Pressure on citrus farming is also growing from one of the state\u2019s other biggest industries: real estate.
\nFlorida expanded by more than 467,000 people last year to 23 million people, making it the third largest state in the nation. And more homes must be built to house that ever-growing population.
\nSome prominent, multigenerational citrus families each have been putting hundreds of acres (hectares) of groves up for sale for millions of dollars, or as much as $25,000 an acre.
\nMurphy owns several hundred acres (hectares) of groves and says he has no plans to abandon the industry, though last year he closed a citrus grove caretaking business that managed thousands of acres for other owners.<\/p>\n
A whole ecosystem of businesses dependent on Florida citrus is at risk if the crops fail, including 33,000 full-time and part-time jobs and an economic impact of $6.8 billion in Florida alone. Besides growers, there are juice processors, grove caretakers, fertilizer sellers, packing houses, nurseries, and candy manufacturers, all hoping for a fix for citrus greening disease.
\nTom Davidson, whose parents founded Davidson of Dundee Citrus Candy and Jelly Factory in Lake Wales in 1966, says the drop in citrus production has impacted what flavor jellies the business is able to produce and the prices it charges to customers.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re really hoping that the scientists can get this figured out so we can we can get back to what we did,\u201d Davidson says.
\nResearchers have been working for eight years on a genetically modified tree that can kill the tiny insects responsible for citrus greening. The process involves inserting a gene into a citrus tree that produces a protein that can kill baby Asian citrus psyllids by making holes in their guts, according to Lukasz Stelinski, an entomology professor at the University of Florida\/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences\u2019 Citrus Research and Education Center.
\nIt could be at least three years before bug-resistant trees can be planted, leaving Florida growers looking for help from other technologies. They include planting trees inside protective screens and covering young trees with white bags to keep out the bugs, injecting trees with an antibiotic, and finding trees that have become resistant to greening through natural mutation and distributing them to other groves.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like being a Lions fan before the Detroit Lions started to win games,\u201d Stelinski says. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that we are making that turnaround.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future of Florida’s citrus industry hangs in the balance as growers face numerous challenges, including disease, hurricanes, and urbanization. While some are holding on to the hope of a bug-free tree, others are exploring alternative technologies to save their crops. The impact of the industry’s decline is far-reaching, affecting not only growers but also related businesses and the state’s economy. As researchers work towards a solution, the clock is ticking for Florida’s citrus growers.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the main challenge facing Florida’s citrus industry?
\nA: The main challenge facing Florida’s citrus industry is the citrus greening disease, which has led to a significant decline in orange production over the past two decades.
\nQ: How has the decline of the citrus industry affected related businesses?
\nA: The decline of the citrus industry has affected related businesses such as juice processors, grove caretakers, fertilizer sellers, packing houses, nurseries, and candy manufacturers.
\nQ: What is being done to address the citrus greening disease?
\nA: Researchers are working on a genetically modified tree that can kill the tiny insects responsible for citrus greening, and other technologies such as planting trees inside protective screens and injecting trees with an antibiotic are being explored.
\nQ: How long will it take for bug-resistant trees to be planted?
\nA: It could be at least three years before bug-resistant trees can be planted.
\nQ: What is the economic impact of the citrus industry’s decline?
\nA: The decline of the citrus industry has an economic impact of $6.8 billion in Florida alone, and affects 33,000 full-time and part-time jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Crisis LAKE WALES, Fla. (AP) \u2014 As Trevor Murphy pulls up to his dad\u2019s 20-acre (8-hectare) grove in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, he points to the cookie-cutter, one-story homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides. \u201cAt some point, this isn\u2019t going to be an orange […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/wsvn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FLORIDA-CITRUS-GENERIC.jpg?quality=60&strip=color&w=1920&resize=1920,1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10493,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10491\/revisions\/10493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}