Florida’s orange industry has been suffering over the past two decades. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), the sector’s production has plummeted by a whopping 92% since the 2003-04 season. The causes of this are mainly natural disasters and a devastating disease called citrus greening.
Citrus greening, whose scientific name is Huanglongbing (HLB) and is also known as yellow dragon disease, was first reported in South Miami-Dade County in August 2005. By June 2006, 12 counties in Florida confirmed being afflicted with the disease. According to the Florida Citrus Organization, 80% of orange trees in the state are now affected.
No cure currently exists for trees once they become infected. The disease, which is mainly spread in the state by the sap-sucking bug called the Asian citrus psyllid, leads to reduced fruit size and premature fruit drop.
Weather has also played a historical role in battering the citrus industry. The Great Freeze, which lasted from 1894-1895, severely damaged groves throughout the citrus belt, especially the second freeze, which in less than 24 hours killed and damaged every citrus tree in its path. Lake County alone lost 99% of its trees.
Since then, the industry has suffered regular, severe hurricanes. One of the most notable of these was Irma, which hit in September 2017. The hurricane knocked 50 to 90 percent of Florida’s citrus fruit to the ground in some areas, according to the then-state commissioner of agriculture, Adam Putnam, causing $760 million in damage in the worst year for Florida oranges since 1945.
Since the early 2000s, the county has poured many of its resources into developing a tree that is resistant to citrus greening, promoting the state’s citrus, and keeping the industry alive.
Glenn Beck has seen the decline firsthand. Beck, who is the president of Windermere-based Beck Brothers Citrus, Inc, winner of the Florida Grower magazine’s 2023 Citrus Achievement Award, and descendant of a long line of citrus farmers, says Florida citrus growers are not strangers to natural disasters.
“In the five centuries since citrus was brought to Florida, we’ve had our fair share of ups and downs. A Great Freeze in 1894 destroyed most of the crop. In 2004, four hurricanes struck Central Florida in a six-week period. Rain, wind and standing water resulted in serious destruction and loss,” he says.
Before the citrus greening outbreak, Floridian growers harvested more than 240 million boxes of oranges per season. Although Beck says the prices were low, these were offset by the high levels of production. This year, he says the industry is counting “just shy of 18 million boxes at season’s end.”
Having to battle both the weather and the disease has crippled the industry. “Florida citrus growers are no longer breaking even,” says Beck. “They are dipping into retirement to cover costs. They are selling assets. They are dwindling in size.”
When greening disease was discovered in the state, citrus associations, researchers, growers, and other citrus industry members had to join forces to avoid a complete collapse. Florida growers, state leaders and citrus associations have invested significant resources and directed their budgets to research in an effort to find treatments, therapies and cures to try and develop a disease-resistant variety.
“We’ve spent our time in the fields testing the approved methods to determine what is most effective,” explains Beck.
Innovations and Future Prospects
The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has worked with farmers for decades, and the citrus greening outbreak was no exception.
Michael Rogers, the center director and a professor at the University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center, has been one of the researchers working to come up with a way to tame or cure greening disease.
Rogers has been working in the field for 20 years and arrived in Florida in 2004, just a year before the outbreak. He says that before the disease, orange growers only had to apply around three petroleum oil sprays a year to control pests.
That’s until the greening disease was first found in Southeast Florida and researchers had to shift all their focus to Asian citrus psyllid management. Days were long and time-consuming, but researchers had to think of quick, cost-effective solutions for farmers.
“We would drive across the state, we had some trials that we were putting out, these were very large-scale trials,” says Rogers. “We were putting out different types of pesticides by airplane to see if we could actually control psyllids that way because it would be a lot more cost-effective.”
Their Eureka moment was when one of the university’s researchers discovered host trees show their symptoms a couple of years after being infected, which helped them change their management of the disease.
“All of our trees in the field now have HLB, and what we’ve been able to do is adjust how we water and fertilize our trees. It makes a huge difference in maintaining tree health, productivity and fruit yield,” explains Rogers. “It’s not a solution, but it’s a way our growers can continue to stay in business until we have developed a long-term solution.”
According to Rogers, maintaining production requires good water and nutrient management. Instead of applying more of both, farmers now have to apply both more frequently in smaller doses. He calls it “spoon-feeding the trees.”
“You don’t want them to go through an extended period without water or nutrients, because they’ll start to decline,” he says. “So, it’s really just adjusting how they (farmers) do their irrigation and fertilization.”
There are other treatments that can be applied to correct some of the hormonal imbalances caused by HLB. “We call them therapy treatments—growers are using some of those as well, and we’re actually seeing that they’re able to turn around the health of the trees and have reduced fruit drop,” notes Rogers.
Florida citrus farmers have learned how to live with the citrus greening disease, but it has not only affected fruit output and revenue, but also the orange’s sugar content.
According to Rogers, the best way to correct that is fertilization programs being applied at different schedules instead of the standard few times a year fertilization schedule. However, this has spiked the cost of production for growers, who are already battling with a decrease in return.
“Without doubt, the cost of production has gone up, and especially during and after the pandemic, fertilizer costs were astronomical. If money was not an issue, we would see all of our groves looking in great condition,” he explains. “They have to do the best they can with limited budgets because these growers have been dealing with HLB for almost 20 years.”
In order to relieve growers from these now unattainable sugar content expectations, Florida lawmakers and citrus associations are seeking to change the FDA’s sugar requirements. They are aiming to change the Brix standard in not-from-concentrate pasteurized orange juice from 10.5%—a level that was set in 1963—to 10%.
The Florida Citrus Processor Association and Florida Citrus Mutual—two trade bodies—filed the petition to amend the standard of identity for pasteurized orange juice to bring the standards into “alignment with the existing properties of the mature oranges used for juice production,” and accommodate Florida producers’ needs.
Florida Citrus Mutual, which is 75 years strong, was created to give the industry a voice. Executive vice president and CEO of the organization, Matt Joyner, says that Brix standards are archaic and no longer apply to what Mother Nature is giving producers.
“We have done numerous and exhaustive taste tests with consumers to show that there is no consumer preference going from 10.5%, which is the current Brix standard, to 10%,” explains Joyner. “If we lower the sugar level, and all the things that we love and know in orange juice are still maintained, we think that it makes sense to lower the Brix level to mirror what commercial production is giving us at this point.”
Joyner anticipates that the FDA will be looking closely at the issue and will be moving forward with the regulation sooner rather than later.
Optimism Amid the Struggles
In regards to the future, both Joyner and Rogers agree that the solution to the greening disease problem will be to create a tree resistant to citrus greening.
“We don’t yet have a rootstock or a tree that is resistant to greening, but we think that is the gold standard, to find a tree that can withstand the greening disease,” says Joyner.
“Some of the antimicrobials and other things we have that can treat the symptoms—and treat the trees—that’s a band-aid because the disease is going to continue to feed on the tree, and it will continue getting sick,” he says. “We can continue to try and restore them back to health, but we don’t have anything that kills the bacteria and eliminates it.”
Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC), an executive agency of the state government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry, says tens of millions of dollars have been invested in citrus greening research over the past 15 years.
And the Florida Citrus Mutual (FCM) recently reported that the Florida Legislature’s fiscal year 2024–25 budget includes $47 million to aid the state’s citrus industry.
Although the industry isn’t quite there yet, Florida citrus leaders think things are going to slowly get better. Beck says that growers carry a huge responsibility on their backs, since the decline can lead to a loss of businesses, jobs and natural green spaces.
“Florida’s citrus groves will be replaced with rooftops, and all the environmental benefits that come from Florida citrus will be lost permanently,” he explains. “Despite the challenges we face and the long-term consequences that threaten our state, we are optimistic. There is hope on the horizon.”
In its final citrus crop forecast for the U.S. released in July 2024, USDA pegged Florida’s total orange volumes at 17.96 million boxes. That would be a 14% year-on-year rise over the previous season’s 15.85 million boxes, and a welcome bucking of the long-term trend.
Beck says resiliency is a well-known trait in Florida citrus growers. Standing strong and rebuilding are just natural responses if you decide to become a farmer in the state of Florida. “America loves the fresh and wholesome taste of Florida orange juice, and Florida growers are committed to deliver.”