TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) — The U.S Department of Agriculture estimates Florida growers will fill nearly 45 million boxes of oranges, grapefruit and specialty crops for the 2021-2022 harvesting season.
It’s the lowest production since around the start of World War II.
For the 2020-2021 season, Florida’s citrus industry produced nearly 58 million boxes. The downward trend has been ongoing for two decades.
Citrus farmers shared “citrus greening” has contributed to the decline. It’s an incurable bacterial disease that Polk County Citrus Farmer, Christian Spinosa, said kills the crop.
“This year was a little bit different with greening, we saw a lot more fruit drop before the end of the year last year and then as we transitioned into 2022, we got hit by several freezes and weather events, so we lost a lot of fruit,” Spinosa said.
