The U.S. citrus industry is facing its greatest challenge in a long time. Citrus greening, a bacterial disease which, according to the New York Times, "causes fruit to turn bitter and drop from the trees when still unripe."
The disease has taken its toll on the U.S. citrus industry in Arizona, California, Texas and, in particular, Florida. An agricultural report from the University of Florida estimates that the disease has cost Florida $4.5 billion and 8,000 jobs from 2006 to 2012. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has downgraded harvest estimates for five months running while the orange harvest has already dropped 10% from earlier projections.
Adam Putnam, agriculture commissioner of Florida, notes, “This year was a real kick in the gut. It is now everywhere, and it’s just as bad as the doomsayers said it would be.”
As government officials and the citrus industry search for a cure, many took heart at Coca-Cola's commitment to pour $2 billion into a project to plant 25,000 acres of new orange groves this week.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida spoke ominously of the disease's potential impact: “The long and short of it is that the industry that made Florida, that is synonymous with Florida, that is a staple on every American breakfast table, is totally threatened. If we don’t find a cure, it will eliminate the citrus industry."
