Disease, Weather Ravage Florida Orange Crop

Dec. 15, 2022

Disease and bad weather are having a devastating effect on Florida's orange crop, putting it on track for the worst yield in 86 years.

Pan Demetrakakes

Disease and bad weather are having a devastating effect on Florida's orange crop, putting it on track for the worst yield in 86 years.

Florida orange farmers were already grappling with a severe frost last January and the effects of Hurricanes Ian and Nicole. Now they have to deal with citrus greening, a disease that cuts off nutrients to orange trees, lowering the quality of their fruit and eventually killing them.

The crop is projected to be 20 million boxes, which would be a 51% drop from last year and the lowest yield since the 1936-37 growing season. The 2004 crop was 240 million boxes, said a Florida official quoted by CNN.

Orange juice prices are expected to go up sharply at retail. They have already risen 7% in the 12 months since late November, and juice futures are now up 42%.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.