Florida's famous orange groves may soon disappear

[Zorro]

Population growth, hurricanes and a vicious citrus greening disease have left the industry reeling.

As Trevor Murphy pulls up to his dad’s 20-acre grove in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, he points to the cookie-cutter, one-story homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides.

“At some point, this isn’t going to be an orange grove anymore,” Murphy, a third-generation grower, says as he gazes at the rows of trees in Lake Wales. ”You look around here, and it’s all houses, and that’s going to happen here.”

Polk County, which includes Lake Wales, contains more acres of citrus than any other county in Florida. And in 2023, more people moved to Polk County than any other county in the country.

Population growth, hurricanes and a vicious citrus greening disease have left the Florida orange industry reeling. Consumers are drinking less orange juice, citrus growers are folding up their operations in the state and the major juice company Tropicana is struggling to stay afloat. With huge numbers of people moving into Florida’s orange growing areas, developers are increasingly building homes on what were once orange groves.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2025/03/15/florida-citrus-greening-disease-oranges-hurricanes-freeze/

[cachukis]

1. We travel back roads in Florida and noticed a couple

of years ago how many of the orange groves had rebounded from the blight. Then Ian and other storms came through, decimating the trees.
Orange juice has a lot of sugar and people are just not drinking it like they used to.
Still like a nice glass of fresh squeezed, however.