Citrus growers in Florida face decline due to greening disease

Yahoo

20-03-2025

FLORIDA (WMBB) – Trevor Murphy's family has been growing Florida citrus for decades.
'I'm a third-generation citrus grower. My grandfather started in the 50's. My father and my uncles are still involved in it,' Murphy said.
As he drives his dad's 20-acre grove in Lake Wales he points out the cookie-cutter homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides.
'It seems like every new time I drive through, there's another grove that's been abandoned,' Murphy added.
Lake Wales is in Polk County. There are more acres of citrus here than any other county in Florida.
But in 2023, more people moved to Polk County than any other county in the United States.
Landowners can make more money selling to developers than growing citrus. And farmers are also constantly battling nature.
'So since 2017, we've had Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Milton come through the citrus belt. And then on top of that, we also had some freezes, the first time that we've had in probably 10-plus years. The trees are already in a weakened state because of the greening,' Murphy said.
'Well citrus greening is a devastating bacterial disease that affects citrus and just a few of its relatives. Since the disease came to florida, the industry has declined significantly. Since 2006 alone, it's been reduced by about 90%. So this has been absolutely devastating,' UF entomology professor Lukasz Stelinski said.
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'Just in my time, we went from roughly 150 million boxes in the state of florida to this year, we might be lucky to pick 10 million boxes,' Stelinski said.
The result of these catastrophes has been a 90% decline in orange production the past two decades. In 2000, Florida's citrus groves covered more than 832,000 acres.
Last year there were just 275,000 acres. California has eclipsed Florida as the nation's leading citrus producer. Even so, the citrus industry employs 33,000 full-time and part-time workers with an economic impact of $6.8 billion in Florida alone.
There are juice processors, grove caretakers, fertilizer sellers, packing houses, nurseries, and candy manufacturers.
Tom Davidson's parents founded David of Dundee citrus candy and jelly factory in Lake Wales in 1966. He says the drop in citrus production has impacted the flavor of jellies they produce and their prices.
'The size of the fruit has been affected. You know, obviously we had giant honeybells, navels, grapefruit — I mean these were massive. Don't see that, you know, as much either,' Davidson said.
All are sticking it out, hoping to survive long enough to see science solve the greening disease.And this might be a possible solution. Researchers have been working for eight years on a genetically modified tree that can kill the tiny insects responsible for citrus greening.
The process involves inserting a gene into a citrus tree that produces a protein that can kill baby Asian citrus psyllids by making holes in their guts.
'This tree contains the genetic instructions for a pesticidal protein that is produced within the tree and kills psyllids, which are the vectors of the pathogen that causes citrus greening,' Davidson said.
But it could be at least three years before bug-resistant trees can be planted. In the meantime, florida growers will look to other technologies, like planting trees inside protective screens, covering young trees with white bags to keep out the bugs, injecting trees with antibiotics, and getting the most use out of trees that have become resistant to greening.
'We're really hoping that scientists can get this figured out, so we can get back to what we do. I mean, we were citrus farmers for forever, and we're hoping we can do that and keep it going.'
Citrus greening was first discovered in South China in 1943. It reached Florida in 2005, and within three years had spread to the majority of citrus farms.
It has threatened the entire U.S. citrus industry. As of 2009, 33 countries had reported infections in their citrus crops.
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