Treatments for citrus greening providing hope for the orange industry as production declines

LAKE WALES, Fla. - Kyle Story's family has owned orange groves in Lake Wales since the 1930s and are planning to produce a million 90-pound boxes this year, twice as many as last year, after recovering from Hurricane Ian.

"It's rewarding," said Story. "Agriculture and farming is emotional."

But the rest of the state isn't as fruitful, with Florida expected to only yield 16 million boxes, the same as last year.

Damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Idalia this year has made projections of 28 million boxes a pipe dream.

"We are down over 60 percent from last year's harvest," said Matt Joyner of the Florida Citrus Mutual. "It's been an ever-declining production situation for the industry over the past 18 years due to citrus greening."

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There is hope, though.

Treatments for citrus greening are being used for the first time this year here at Story's grove. 

"The following years, as we do this on an annual basis, you're going to see not only that more fruit, better quality product," said Story.

A sign of the dwindling number of oranges is next door to the Story's, where owners of another grove shut down. 

In 1998, Florida's all-time production high was 244 million boxes of oranges. That's fifteen times as many as this year.

"We may not get back to where we once were, but we'll be at very healthy levels to be a pillar of Florida's economy," said Story.