Florida's Orange Industry Is Dying. Slowly. And It's Been Happening for Years.

Florida's citrus greening problem — caused by a bacterium called Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, spread by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid — has been wrecking Florida groves since the disease was confirmed in the state in 2005. By 2026, the damage is staggering.

The Numbers Are Brutal

At its peak in the 1990s, Florida produced roughly 240 million 90-pound boxes of oranges per season. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 2023-2024 season yielded approximately 13.5 million boxes. That is a collapse of more than 94%.

Florida once supplied the majority of U.S. orange juice. Today, Brazil fills that gap. American consumers are paying more for OJ — prices have more than doubled since 2020 — and the domestic industry that could have supplied them is fighting for survival.

What the Disease Actually Does

Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing or HLB, spreads rapidly. The Asian citrus psyllid feeds on a tree, picks up the bacteria, and then spreads it to every tree it touches. Once a tree is infected, it produces small, misshapen, bitter fruit. The tree slowly starves. There is no cure.

Farmers have three basic options: remove infected trees, try to slow the spread of the psyllid with pesticides, or experiment with therapies that manage — not cure — the disease.

None of those options are cheap.

The Fight Back: What's Actually Being Tried

Researchers at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, along with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, have been working on multiple fronts for years.

Genetically modified trees resistant to HLB have shown promise in trials. USDA scientists have developed trees with a gene derived from spinach — yes, spinach — that appears to confer resistance. Field trials have been underway, though regulatory approval for commercial planting has moved slowly.

Thermotherapy — essentially bathing young trees in hot water to slow bacterial spread — has also been tested. It buys time. It does not solve the problem.

Another approach targets the psyllid itself. Researchers have explored biological controls, including a parasitic wasp called Tamarixia radiata that attacks the psyllid. Florida's citrus industry has released millions of these wasps into groves over the past decade. Results are mixed.

Regulatory Delays and Real-World Costs

The regulatory environment has made it significantly more difficult to bring solutions to market fast enough to matter. GMO-resistant trees — potentially the most effective long-term solution — face years of federal review. Growers who want to try them commercially can't. Meanwhile, their groves keep dying.

A farmer watching his trees die does not have the luxury of waiting five years for a regulatory agency to complete its review process.

The federal government has pumped money into research — the USDA has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in HLB-related funding over the years — but funding research does not equal solutions in the field. The gap between the lab and the grove remains wide.

What This Means for Regular People

If you've noticed orange juice prices at the grocery store are painful, this is a significant reason why. Florida's collapse as a citrus producer has made the U.S. more dependent on Brazilian imports. That's a supply chain vulnerability — one that should concern anyone who thinks domestic food production matters for national security.

Small family growers in central Florida have been hardest hit. These are not corporate agriculture giants with deep pockets to absorb losses. Many have sold or abandoned groves that have been in their families for generations.

The land doesn't disappear. It gets converted — to housing developments, to warehouses, to subdivisions. Once it's gone, it doesn't come back.

Where Things Stand

Florida's citrus industry is not dead yet. Growers are still fighting. Scientists are still working. Some operations have survived by switching to alternative varieties or experimenting with protective netting to keep psyllids off trees.

Without faster regulatory pathways for proven solutions — particularly GMO-resistant trees — and without sustained, serious investment in getting lab breakthroughs into actual commercial use, the Florida citrus industry faces continued decline.