Florida orange harvest on track to be lowest since last century

Florida will produce the smallest crop of oranges in more than 75 years, reported the AP. The US Dept of Agriculture released a report in January predicting that the 2021-2022 season will yield only 44.5 million 90-pound boxes of oranges, meaning California’s orange crop will exceed Florida’s for the first time in years.

In recent decades Florida’s orange industry has been negatively impacted by citrus greening, a disease caused by bacteria that leads to fewer and smaller fruit, eventually killing the trees. Citrus greening has set Florida’s orange production on a downward trajectory since around the year 2005.

“It’s the signature crop of Florida. It’s our second biggest industry and to be in it, it’s troubling for sure,” Louis Schacht, part-owner of Schacht Groves, a citrus growing operation in Central Florida told Miami CBS local.

According to Schacht, the citrus growing industry in Florida still has the possibility for a bright future, but only if the state prioritizes scientific research on greening and incentives for those planting new trees.