U.S. orange production has fallen sharply as the industry faces destabilizing threats from extreme weather events, incurable diseases and economic stress.
Citrus growers lose millions of dollars every year, according to agency U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, orange juice futures hit a record high.
“The situation with U.S. citrus production is pretty dire right now,” American Farm Bureau Federation economist Daniel Munch told CNBC. “When there’s not enough supply to meet demand, prices go up for consumers.”
Orange production in Florida has declined dramatically in recent years. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 658,000 acres were planted with oranges in Florida in 1998.
Much of this problem can be traced to the spread of citrus greening disease, which is considered one of the world’s most serious plant diseases and currently has no cure.
Amy O’Shea, CEO of agricultural science company Invaio Sciences, told CNBC: “When citrus greening starts to get into the woods, it reduces the productivity of those trees and ultimately forces them to die and then be removed from the woods. .
potential solutions
As climate change makes extreme weather more common and scientists have yet to come up with scalable treatments for citrus greening, the problems plaguing citrus production won’t be easy to solve.
Some key research areas include fruit breeding of citrus greening-resistant varieties, antimicrobial treatments and other pest control solutions such as crop covers.
Invaio is one of the companies researching and developing treatments for citrus greening.
“We have developed a very unique precision delivery technology called Trecise that we are able to insert into the tree and deliver very small amounts of antimicrobial agents,” O’Shea told CNBC.
O’Shea says that when Trecise is inserted into a tree, the active ingredients enter its vascular system rather than being administered outside the tree.
In August 2023, Invaio’s Trecise received emergency use approval from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Community Services.
The volatility of these threats could impact citrus harvest expectations, leading experts to believe orange juice prices may continue to rise, at least in the short term.
watching video Learn more about threats to citrus production in the United States and globally, and how the industry is rebounding after decades of damage from disease and extreme weather.
