Florida orange growers were already facing a challenging year as greening disease, an invasive bacterium that thrives in warm climates and can kill trees and cause fruit to drop early, hit their plants. Royce reports that in some counties growers have lost as much as 80% of their fruit. The hurricane “came right up through the heart of the citrus belt”, said Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands Citrus Growers Association. Photograph: Chris O’Meara/APĪfter Hurricane Ian ripped through Florida’s Gulf coast counties in late September, citrus growers in the state’s main agricultural counties began reporting that 50% to 90% of their fruit had been torn off the trees by high winds and rain. Oranges rot on the ground at Roy Petteway’s citrus and cattle farm after they were knocked off the trees from Hurricane Ian in Zolfo Springs, Florida.
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