Current Events > Kind of crazy that the US Citrus industry is pretty much being wiped out

(+) Yeah! (+)

There's been something like a 70% drop in domestic production since 2000, and the US is now importing significantly more citrus than it produces.

This is also evidently the first year where California will produce more oranges than Florida.

What the fuck is DeSantis even doing to help fix this problem? Aren't Floridians the least bit ashamed for letting this happen to the industry that put them on the map to begin with??

Florida isn't growing oranges anymore because fruit is woke

I mean, a lot of states that are known for a certain crop actually don't produce as much as you think.

I live in Georgia, and what do you think our top fruit crop is by dollars? It's not peaches.

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=GEORGIA

TMOG posted...

Florida isn't growing oranges anymore because fruit is woke

Fruits? What nonsense you speak of! Now eat your hamburgers like the good American you are.

TMOG posted...

Florida isn't growing oranges anymore because fruit is woke

Climate change and disease are two of the leading causes!

Humble_Novice posted...

What the fuck is DeSantis even doing to help fix this problem? Aren't Floridians the least bit ashamed for letting this happen to the industry that put them on the map to begin with??

At this point I don't think there's anything that *can* be done. Florida's citrus industry is pretty much just dying a slow, irreversible death.

kelemvor posted...

I mean, a lot of states that are known for a certain crop actually don't produce as much as you think.

Florida *used to* though, that's the problem. Their orange production has dropped something like 80%+ in less than 20 years.

I remember growing up in Florida there was an orange grove we'd drive by all the time. Now there's a Home Depot and Wawa there instead.

Apparently theyre dealing some sort of tree disease which has basically spread across the entire state.

The hurricanes arent helping either.

Hospy posted...

Apparently theyre dealing some sort of tree disease which has basically spread across the entire state.

The hurricanes arent helping either.

Yep, Citrus Greening Disease. No known cure.

Not a serious threat to California yet but once it hits there the citrus industry is done, unless the ongoing GMO tests they're doing are actually successful and acceptable to consumers.

Florida generally has better oranges than California so thats a problem

TimeForAction posted...

Florida generally has better oranges than California so thats a problem

we'll be getting no more orange juice no more then.
since there isn't any left to produce from florida oranges (even if they say they use them in brands, we're being lied to).

All those orange groves in central Florida are taking up valuable retail/old people's home space.

Bio1590 posted...

Climate change and disease are two of the leading causes!

At this point I don't think there's anything that *can* be done. Florida's citrus industry is pretty much just dying a slow, irreversible death.

Really. Stopping attacks on immigrants would go a long ways.

Please send help.

It's because Florida is addicted to car-dominant suburban sprawl

Thanks Obama.

Butterfiles posted...

It's because Florida is addicted to car-dominant suburban sprawl

Nah the other reasons are contributing far more than that.

Butterfiles posted...

It's because Florida is addicted to car-dominant suburban sprawl

Its because they hate immigrants.

all the people who actually knew how to maintain the fields bailed after the anti-immigrant bill

and I don't even just mean the illegal employees. employers are going to go where the cheapest labor is as well. oranges will grow just as well in the other states around there. 'florida oranges' is a brand name at this point and nothing else

Desantis has guaranteed the destruction of the Floridas economy in like a half dozen ways. Any sane person in Florida should be livid at what hes done.

Why tho?

rexcrk posted...

Why tho?

Because he always intended to troll everyone an begone before the repercussions happen.

thronedfire2 posted...

oranges will grow just as well in the other states around there.

Not at any level of industrial production. Places like northern Alabama, northern Mississippi, and northern Georgia are already too far north.

Bio1590 posted...

Not at any level of industrial production. Places like northern Alabama, northern Mississippi, and northern Georgia are already too far north.

Good thing climate change will warn those places up then

Bio1590 posted...

There's been something like a 70% drop in domestic production since 2000, and the US is now importing significantly more citrus than it produces.

This is also evidently the first year where California will produce more oranges than Florida.

In my experience small groves in Florida are being aged out. My business parters family were all 70+, most have since passed away. They have sold the tituary businesses they have. Their Children have done other things in life. They have sold the land to developers the ast I heard. Colder winters have moved the frostline below I4. The further north they grew was close to Gainesville. This has been going on for decades