Expect higher orange juice prices in the months ahead after a bacterial disease and harsh weather ravaged this season’s crops. Florida annually produces more than 90 percent of the country’s orange juice supplies.
Last year, Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian, Hurricane Nicole, and freezing conditions in succession. The Guardian says producers also had to battle citrus greening disease. It’s spread by an invasive insect and can’t be cured, so it renders affected fruit unusual. Infected trees typically die within a few years, and that’s forced some producers to give up growing fruit and selling their land. Industry expectations say that U.S. production will reach its lowest point in more than 100 years.
A trade group says the industry typically does about 244 million boxes of oranges but ended up this year with under 16 million boxes. Up to ten percent of the state’s orange trees were lost in the hurricanes.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)