Florida’s signature industry fights for a future

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- One of the symbols of Florida is the citrus industry — images of big ripe oranges and delicious-looking glasses of fresh orange juice.

Yet, the citrus industry is reeling from a decade and a half of diseases.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates this year’s harvest at 103 million boxes of oranges. That’s very low, even compared to recent years, and about 60 percent lower than the 254 million boxes in the 1998 harvest.

“The tomorrows are uncertain right now. We are taking it one day at a time. Fighting the diseases is hard, and costly. We are spending about triple what we used to spend, to spray the trees, trying to hold back the greening,” said Frank Green, a veteran citrus grower with 100 acres near Alva.

Greening is a bacteria, spread by an insect. It cuts off nutrients from the leaves and the fruit on the tree. That makes the fruit unusable for eating or juicing.

“Greening is something we have to defeat. We can’t just live with it, it will wipe out groves. I can show you groves near here that used to be real nice, now they are on their way out,” said Green.

In fact, many parts of South Florida used to planted with row after row of citrus. Now some of those fields are abandoned to cows, palmetto, and scrub oak trees.

He notes that some growers left the business during the canker problems in the early 2000s. Now, the industry has learned to live with canker. That disease renders the fruit unsellable for eating, but the oranges can be juiced.

The shortage of oranges is affecting juice prices in the grocery stores. Green says some pure OJ is now running about $6 a gallon. He wonders how long moms will pay that much for the product at the stores.

“It is good for some extra money for growers, but the lack of supply of citrus does drive up the consumer price,” said Green.

So, what’s next?

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture is asking the legislature for an extra $18 million to research a cure for greening, or at least a way to slow its spread.

Frank Green says, he intends to stay on the land that his ancestors have had since the 1800s. One of them planted the first citrus tree on the 100 acres in 1917.

“We are hard-headed. We are going to try to ride it out. This is a family operation, and I want my two sons to take it over. We are going to stay in it, until we can’t stay in the business,” Green tells WINK News.