By FRANCIS FEDOR
Growing up in Pennsylvania, the first visual I would get when someone mentioned Florida would be that of an Orange. Oranges and the orange industry seem to have always been synonymous with Florida, as have palm trees, gators and beaches, to name a few. But that is no longer a given. The Florida orange is becoming more and more scarce. One may wonder why.
Graphical representation of the Florida orange industry over the years
Recently, the FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States for allegedly smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the country. The pathogen is believed to be a fungus called “Fusarium graminearum” which was carried into the U.S. at the University of Michigan, where the individual is employed. The fungus can cause a disease called “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice, which causes significant health issues in humans and livestock. By now, you’re wondering what does that have to do with the production of oranges in Florida: great question.
I personally didn’t really think that the Florida orange industry was in danger of extinction, but that may just simply be the result of the imagery of an orange juice product in Publix or Costco or wherever one shops for their groceries, coupled with the nostalgia of the orange being a symbol associated with Florida. But then I heard a discussion on the declining orange industry here in Florida and decided to do some digging. As you can see on the chart opposite, production was modest from 1924 to 1937, under 2M boxes per season. The output grew steadily and cracked the 206M mark in 1980. It started to fall back a bit until 1992 but recovered and returned to record highs in production, topping out at 240M in 1998. Production held relatively steady until around 2004 and started a rapid decline to numbers last seen in 1940, with production at around 18M for the season ending in 2024, up from 15M in the previous season.
Chart displaying the production by country over the past 15 plus years and to highlight the rankings and where the US falls in the world production of oranges
While the Florida orange industry has faced threats before, the latest and potentially most devastating has been the Huanglongbing. The disease is now referred to as citrus greening and was first detected in Florida in 2005. Within three years it had infected the majority of citrus farms. The path to the U.S. seems to have been the initial reporting in South China, through Africa, to the U.S. As of 2009, 33 countries have reported the effects. While it is unknown how it was introduced, it is believed to have been injected through infected plant material or psyliid insects. The data appears to back the information regarding the introduction in 2005 as the 2004 season topped out at 242M and dramatically started to fall off after that peak season.
There is irony as the citrus industry in Florida is believed to have its beginnings in southeast Asia, reaching the new world in 1493 with Christopher Columbus. Florida Indians then, as the history suggests, obtained the seeds from the Spanish missionaries to help establish the trees. Many of these early attempts failed, due to weather, disease or war. It took until about the mid-1870s for the commercial market to take root and flock entrepreneurs to Florida to build out the industry. (More on the history of the citrus industry can be found here: https://dos.fl.gov/historical/museums/historical-museums/united-connections/foodways/food-cultivation-and-economies/the-citrus-industry-in-florida/.)
There could be other factors in the decline of the Florida orange industry. Examples include
• Farmland being sold off as generations pass away.
• Colder weather in parts of the state has factored into crop yield. Warmer winters produce more fruit. Colder winters in northern regions can create conditions where frost becomes a negative in the decimation of a crop yield.
• Competition from other countries has produced data, going back to 2007, which highlights the rise of other countries in the market. Brazil has been at or near the top of production of oranges in the world. Brazil topped all nations in 2024 with 16.9 million tons of production. As of 2024 the U.S. came in sixth, behind Brazil, India, China, Mexico and Egypt, with 3.1 million tons. In 2007 the U.S. had been, effectively, second in world production at 7.4 million tons, still a good distance from Brazil.
• In 2024, California led all U.S. states with an estimated production of 45.8 million units. California, Florida and Texas (minimally) make up the bulk of production in the U.S.
Whether Florida will ever return to the peaks of the ’90s is still unknown. The competition posed by other countries is a challenge to that goal. Developers building housing or retail complexes change the dynamic in the land available for the groves. It will be interesting. It’s likely, however, that Florida will always be known for the orange that appears on the breakfast table in a bowl or as orange juice, even if that specific orange did not originate from Florida.
Sources: DOS.FL.GOV | World Atlas | Wikipedia | FAO(UN) | WorldOStats.com
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