TALLAHASSEE --- Citrus growers called on lawmakers Tuesday to continue providing research and advertising money to help an industry that has seen production drop more than 90 percent in less than three decades.
Otherwise, they cautioned that more of the roughly 1,500 remaining citrus growers in the state could exit the industry.
Appearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, Florida Citrus Mutual CEO and Executive Vice President Matt Joyner stressed the need to continue providing money for research in the long-running battle against deadly citrus greening disease.
Meanwhile, Department of Citrus Executive Director Shannon Shepp focused on money for marketing.
“We are admittedly an industry in need of your help on many levels,” Shepp said. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t hearken the words of Henry Ford, that, ‘Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping a clock to save time.’”
“There will be a renaissance in this industry,” Shepp added. “We need to maintain a market for these growers.”
With research occurring at places such as the University of Florida, Joyner said the goal is to stabilize the industry by putting into groves trees that are resistant to citrus greening, which is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, a small insect that feeds on trees.
“Losing the citrus industry is not an option,” Joyner said.
In addition to a $6.8 billion to $6.9 billion annual economic impact, Joyner argued that the 250,000 acres of citrus trees scattered throughout the state have other benefits, such as aquifer recharge and wildlife habitat.
Florida produced 244 million boxes of oranges and 50 million boxes of grapefruit in 1998, when the industry was at its peak, according to Florida Citrus Mutual. As a comparison, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected last month that Florida this growing season will produce 12 million boxes of oranges and 1.2 million boxes of grapefruit.
Along with citrus greening, the industry has faced constant pressures from residential and commercial development and has been hit by hurricanes and winter freezes.
Last month, Fort Myers-based Alico Inc., a major grower, announced it was getting out of the citrus business once the current crop is harvested.
Alico President and Chief Executive Officer John Kiernan, in a prepared statement, told investors that after more than a century growing citrus “we must now reluctantly adapt to changing environmental and economic realities.”
Alico’s decision is estimated to remove about 12 percent of the acres used in Florida for citrus.
The state budget for the current fiscal year, which runs through June 30, includes more than $47 million for the citrus industry. It includes $29 million for technologies to research, treat and prevent citrus greening. Another $9 million was earmarked for citrus marketing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis late Sunday released a budget proposal for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that included $20 million for citrus research and what is known as the Citrus Health Response Program, with $7 million of the total going to the Department of Citrus. Lawmakers will consider DeSantis’ proposal as they start piecing together a budget during the legislative session that will begin March 4.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Sen. Keith Truenow, a Tavares Republican who founded Lake Jem Farms in Central Florida, suggested lawmakers could look into how citrus groves are assessed for property values.
“Some of those things I think need to be tightened up so that they don't feel like they have to pay three or four times or five times the rate just to hold on to their property, when everyone knows that they’re not going to hold it very long at that rate because they’ve already been losing money the last 20 years,” Truenow said.
Sen. Colleen Burton, a Lakeland Republican whose district includes key parts of the citrus industry, said the state needs to support growers “through the difficult times as much as we can.”
“My concern is that a reduction in growers, a reduction in participation by the growers we have, and all the work that both of your organizations do, is not healthy,” Burton told Shepp and Joyner.
“I'm very concerned about the loss of citrus, loss of the market,” Burton continued. “The fact of the matter is, Floridians, Americans, they want to drink orange juice from Florida. They want Florida orange juice. But how many of them are educated to know when you go to the grocery stores, there's all those little symbols on the bottle?”