Florida’s citrus industry has been fighting the devastating effects of the virulent disease Huanglongbing, or ‘greening’ that destroys fruit and kills trees. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that Florida’s orange production for 2014 will be down 18% from last year to 110 million boxes. Net production has been cut in half and citrus acreage in the state sits at 50%-60% of what it was ten years ago. In 2005, before the spread of ‘greening’ cost of production for Florida citrus growers was approximately $500 per acre. Now production costs can average 400% higher at $2,000 per acre due to the extensive measures needed to be taken to fight the disease. Seedlings that once cost $1.10 each now cost between $10 and $12 each because they must be produced in greenhouses guaranteed to be free of the disease. The loss of acreage and production is putting the state’s processing sector in jeopardy as well and growers fear that once production picks back up in the future there will not be the packing houses and processing facilities to handle their crop. Once science tackles the eradication of ‘greening’ and the lost acreage is regained through replanting of new varieties of trees, the industry will likely see a recovery, and growers hope that there will be enough industry infrastructure left to support that recovery.
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