News Summary

• In 2003, the mighty Florida orange industry produced 242 million boxes of fruit, with 90 pounds of oranges per box, most of which went on to become orange juice.
• Now, not even 25 years later, the United States Department of Agriculture was forecasting a pitiful 12 million boxes.
• “It’s been a dumpster fire of a year,” says Rick Dantzler, chief operating officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation.
• Already, Florida had lost about three-quarters of its citrus growers.