FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The price of orange juice may soon be going up as Florida’s citrus crop continues to plummet.
At the River Front Packing Company in Fort Pierce, they’re gearing up to start packing citrus fruit on Monday.
“We’re very excited, we’re going to start harvesting our fresh fruit today,” said president Dan Richey. “It’ll be a busy crazy place on Monday, you ought to come back.”
Richey said that craziness isn’t what it once was as Florida’s citrus crop has been suffering.
“The hurricanes, invasive pests and diseases are definitely changing the landscape of our industry here in Florida,” Richey said. “The large majority of orange juice off of the orange groves was right in the path of Ian. Some groves have a total loss. Some may not come back.”
Richey said at one point, the state of Florida produced over 200 million boxes of citrus fruit each year. The number has dropped to only 28 million boxes for the 2022-2023 season and greening disease is a big part of the problem.
Down the road at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Science’s Indian River Research and Education Center, a seven-year research project is underway to test a new way to grow citrus that will withstand invasive disease like the powerful greening disease.
On Wednesday, more than 150 citrus trees that are part of the project were evaluated to test their tolerance against the disease.
“When greening struck this area, it killed a lot of trees and growers are having to remove those trees because they were useless," said Dr. Ronald Cave, director of the center. "Growers were then asking well what should I plant now that can tolerate the greening disease.”
The ongoing problem is now costing consumers more money, with the price of a 12-ounce can of orange juice now costing $2.90 and is expected to climb once again.
“The citrus industry was the biggest employer in the state of Florida previously,” said biological scientist Bob Pelosi. “When I drive around now out west of town where all the groves were, they’re all gone.”
Industry-wide, growers and researchers are not giving up hope that things will turn around.
“There will always be a citrus industry in the state of Florida,” said Richey. “Florida without citrus is a day without sunshine.”