BARTOW, Florida – Citrus was a cornerstone of Florida's economy and identity for more than a century, but a decades-long decline driven by an invasive predator and relentless hurricanes leaves some wondering if the industry can ever recover.
Citrus once was "a behemoth" in the state, with nearly a million acres of trees, said Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest citrus trade association. Today it grows on fewer than 200,000 acres.
Production has plummeted nearly 92% since the season before a trio of hurricanes made landfall here in 2004. In winter 2024-2025, production reached thelowest point in morethan a century.
Florida citrus industry works to rebound from citrus greening
In early 2025, the state's largest commercial grower announced it would end its citrus operations in Florida,citing economic conditions.
However, many growers and scientists aren't ready to close the book on Florida's citrus history.
They are fighting back against the voracious Asian citrus psyllid and the tree-killing bacterial disease known as "citrus greening" it carries.
Through breeding and genetics, researchers and growers have developed trees "showing tremendous resistance, if not tolerance, to greening," Joyner said.
Invasive species has been attacking Florida citrus groves
Florida growers have seen troubles before, including pests and disease such as canker, which still lingers, and historic tree-killing freezes, but psyllid is considered the gravest threat to citrus trees and fruit worldwide.
The particularly devastating strain of the disease it spreads – Huanglongbing (HLB), or Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus – has affected dozens of countries. It's found in several states, but Florida has been hardest hit.
The bugs, barely an eighth of an inch long, arrived in the state in 1998, and were detected in the commercial citrus industry in 2005. Since then,they've wreaked havoc.
"We have had a 90% reduction in acreage and production compared with pre HLB," said Ute Albrecht, anassociate professor of plant physiologywith the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
During the 2024-25 season, growers produced 14.6 million boxes, down more than 25% from the previous year. It had been 125 years since production was that low. At its height, the industry produced 304 million boxes a season.
The scientists blame the extent of the virus in part on Florida's heat and rain,which encourages the new growth the insects prefer to eat, hurricanes that move the bugs into new areas and delays in efforts to eradicate the psyllids from the moment they first appeared in South Florida.
Psyllids operate like malaria-carrying mosquitoes, taking the disease from infected trees to healthy ones. When the virus hits a tree, it spreads "everywhere, not just in the leaves or on the surface," Albrecht said.
Growers are working with scientists to develop and use promising treatments and tools to beat back the bugs and bacteria. That includes working with hundreds of varieties of trees and fruit to develop trees with hardier root systems and tree tops.
They're also three years intoapplying a treatmentthat Albrecht helped develop to curb the bacterial infection. They're expanding the acres grown under protective screen structures that keep out the psyllids. Other advances include helping trees produce a protein that can kill tiny, young psyllids.
State and federal programs also are assisting with the cost of new tree plantings and development of the newer tools to treat the disease.
Things are "moving in the right direction," Joyner said. "It's kind of exciting to see some resurgence."
'A guiding light'
The figures showing the industry's decline miss the optimism and determination of growers and scientists working to turn things around, Joyner said.
"It's easy to look at just the stats and charts and get a wrong view of what's going on in Florida citrus," he said.
Shane and Katie Bevilacqua, co-owners of Golden Ridge Groves near Bartow aren't ready to give up. Neither is Steve Crump, whose family has grown fruit in DeLeon Springs for more than 130 years.
As these growers collaborate with scientists to find solutions, they are excited aboutadvances that include new varieties of root stockand trees that are more resilient, tolerant, grow faster and produce more desirable fruit.
The greening devastation pushed researchers to accelerate genetic research,said Jude Grosser,a professor of plant cell geneticsat UF's Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred.
These days Grosser spends much of his time in the field, walking through groves searching for the best trees and fruit. He and colleagues are working to find and isolate the "right" traits among thousands of hybrids planted in the groves and cross them with others to improve both trees and fruit.
The University of Florida team has been "a guiding light," said Shane Bevilacqua, co-owner ofGolden Ridge Groveswith his wife. Katie's father, Jerry Mixon, grandfather and uncle have long partnered with the University and are known for being pioneers in thegrowth of Florida's blueberry industry."I come from a long line of risk takers and problem solvers," she said.
In 2016, Jerry Mixon began planting trees under a screened, protective structure designed to keep the bugs out. Now the farm has about 700 acres under protective cover.
The Bevilacquas opened Golden Ridge in November to tours, you-pick opportunities and tastings to share with the public what's going on inside the protective structures. It's a way to bring citrus science to the public, she said, and to get direct feedback from consumers on the newer varieties of fruit.
Growers have seen big collateral benefits to the screen structures, the Bevilacquas said. Protected from the wind and to some degree from the sun, trees grow far faster in the humid environment than those outside the screen. They also produce more and higher quality fruit.
"We're much more efficient with what we do on a per acre basis," Grosser said. "A whole host of things have come out of the research we've done on greening that has given us better practices."
Getting a head start
About 90 miles to the northeast of the research center in Polk County, Florida, Steve Crump's great-grandfather Chester Strawn planted orange trees in the late 1800s. The family has battled and come back before, after bitter freezes in 1894-95 and nearly a century later in 1989.
When he planted his first citrus trees under one of the protective screened structures four years ago, Grosser warned Crump the trees would grow fast.
"Compared to the stuff I'm growing outside, it's unbelievably fast," said Crump, executive director of Volusia County Farm Bureau. "The quality of the fruit is the best I've ever grown."
Encouraged by the growth, flavor and production he sees at the family'sVo-LaSalle Farms, and after much deliberation about the future, he is expanding the area under screen.
The enclosures cost tens of thousands per acre, and repair costs can pile up after storms like Hurricane Milton in 2024. Grosser said the expense means farmers growing under them will need to shift to producing more higher value varieties, rather than focusing on juice as they have in the past.
Farmers in Florida and Georgia also are using individual screen covers on new young trees planted outside. If they can keep the trees covered for a couple of years to give them a head start on building a healthy root system, it can give the trees an increased lifespan.
What to know about the Asian citrus psyllid
Homeowners can also canhelp curb the problemby monitoring their own citrus trees, learning to recognize the bugs and greening symptoms, and using insecticides and measures to keep their trees healthy.
Among the symptoms to watch for, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are the following:
Psyllid eggs are yellow-orange, almond-shaped and often tucked inside crevices and leaf folds.
The tiny nymphs leave waxy, white excretions on the leaves.
Even when a tree is asymptomatic, it can be a bacteria source to infect other trees.
Leaves may show blotches and mottled coloring and fruit may remain partially green and irregularly shaped.
Saving Florida's citrus fruit
Saving Florida's citrus will require a concerted and combined strategy, Albrecht said.
"You really have to use a whole arsenal of things, from nutrition, irrigation, pests, insecticides and injections," she said. "Ultimately the best way to solve this or to live with it, is really by having better varieties that can handle the disease."
The goal is to developa portfolio of root stocksthat farmers can use to choose the best options for their farms, based on their soil, salinity, insect and disease problems and the type of fruit they want to produce, Grosser said. With the advancements, progressive people who have capital and are willing to try different things, he said, are "going to make it."
The industry also hopes to develop fruit that could be mechanically harvested and stand up to packing and transport, Grosser said, as well as to improve varieties that will maintain their juice flavor and quality after pasteurization. In a juice-tasting at a December fundraiser, a new variety of orange, named for the late Orie Lee, a member of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, blended with mandarin orange juice, was the crowd's hands down favorite, he said.
Another obstacle to the full recovery of the citrus industry is the dwindling acreage available for new groves amidst the increasing demand for land for new subdivisions and homes. Farmers who gave up battling greening and let their trees die, are getting huge offers for their property, Grosser said. The land, if sold, will "never come back into agriculture."
Joyner and others hope these concerns can be addressed by a continued focus on state-sponsored farm preservation programs that reward farmers for conserving their land.
The industry's survival is crucial for green space and rural economies, Joyner said, and for consumers who want to continue buying domestically grown fresh fruit and juice.
Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY and Florida native, has covered the environment, weather and climate change for decades. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Florida citrus in crisis as invasive predator spreads
