{"id":64061,"date":"2026-03-24T18:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64061"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:39:15","slug":"the-fruit-that-made-florida-is-quickly-disappearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/24\/the-fruit-that-made-florida-is-quickly-disappearing\/","title":{"rendered":"The fruit that made Florida is quickly disappearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is a somber reality for the “Sunshine State.” As of March 2026, the Florida citrus industry is facing what many experts describe as its most critical turning point in over a century. The orange, which has been the heartbeat of Florida\u2019s agricultural identity, is indeed disappearing at an alarming rate.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several “perfect storm” factors have converged to create this crisis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Invisible Killer: Citrus Greening<\/sup><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since it was first detected in Florida in 2005, Huanglongbing (HLB)<\/strong>, or citrus greening, has devastated groves.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The Damage:<\/strong> Spread by the tiny Asian citrus psyllid, this bacterial disease starves trees of nutrients, causing fruit to drop early and stay green and bitter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Scale:<\/strong> Production has plummeted more than 90%<\/strong> from its peak in the late 1990s. For the 2025\u20132026 season, the USDA forecasts just 12 million boxes<\/strong>\u2014a staggering drop from the 244 million boxes produced in 1998.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    2. A Concrete Jungle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The profitability of citrus is being outpaced by Florida’s massive population growth and real estate demand.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • The Trade-off:<\/strong> Many multi-generational growers are “throwing in the towel.” Selling a struggling grove to a developer for a residential subdivision or a strip mall often provides a financial lifeline that farming no longer can.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Acreage Loss:<\/strong> Citrus grove land has dwindled by roughly 75%<\/strong> over the last 25 years as “subdivisions replace seedlings.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      3. Nature’s One-Two Punch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      In addition to disease, a relentless cycle of extreme weather has prevented the industry from recovering.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Hurricanes:<\/strong> Recent years have seen a succession of major storms\u2014Ian, Nicole, Helene, and Milton\u2014which uprooted trees and flooded root systems already weakened by greening.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Freeze Events:<\/strong> Occasional “cold snaps” continue to threaten the remaining groves, adding expensive heating costs to an already thin profit margin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n

        Is there hope?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        While the industry may never return to its “behemoth” status, there are efforts to save it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Research:<\/strong> Millions of dollars are being poured into developing disease-resistant trees<\/strong> and genetic therapies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • New Tech:<\/strong> Some growers are experimenting with “Citrus Under Protective Screen” (CUPS) to physically block the psyllid insects.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Diversification:<\/strong> Some land is being transitioned to alternative crops like pongamia (for biofuel) or specialized indoor farming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          For now, you may notice it is getting harder to find “100% Florida Orange Juice” on shelves, as many brands have begun blending Florida juice with imports from Brazil or Mexico to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          It is a somber reality for the “Sunshine State.” As of March 2026, the Florida citrus industry is facing what many experts describe as its most critical turning point in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTItNi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yNzUlMkMxODMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJUaGUgZnJ1aXQgdGhhdCBtYWRlIEZsb3JpZGEgaXMgcXVpY2tseSBkaXNhcHBlYXJpbmciLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.pWWtbmmqCM006ohKQ9zyDSFFgS9Rf4TAQq91XBYxyOMMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14180],"class_list":["post-64061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-the-fruit-that-made-florida-is-quickly-disappearing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64063,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64061\/revisions\/64063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}