Florida’s Battered Orange Growers Are Cashing In on a Housing Boom
- An evolving economy leaves state’s signature fruit in eclipse
- Citrus greening disease is killing trees as land values climb
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Florida’s farmers have spent nearly two decades fending off plagues, freezes and storms that decimated their orange crops. A growing number of them have had enough.
A booming real estate market has led many to conclude it would be more profitable to sell their land than to continue to cultivate the Sunshine State’s signature fruit. The number of acres dedicated to growing oranges in Florida has declined by more than half since 2000, to just over 300,000 this year, according to a preliminary US Department of Agriculture report.