Florida's citrus industry faces uncertainty after Hurricane Milton's destruction

When Hurricane Milton made landfall in Central Florida last week, it claimed more than a dozen lives and left a path of destruction in its wake. But it also arrived at the worst possible moment for citrus farmers: right before the critical harvest season.

For farmers, the damage caused by Milton and other recent hurricanes adds a devastating setback after years of struggling to recover from citrus greening, a disease that's ravaged orange production for decades. Following Hurricanes Irma (2017), Ian (2022) and Idalia (2023), Florida's citrus sector suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in agricultural losses. Since last year, the state has lost nearly 20% of land used for growing citrus.

More storms could threaten to accelerate the decline of Florida’s citrus industry even further. Here’s an overview of how hurricane season is affecting the citrus industry in the Sunshine State.

A decline in citrus production

Up until 2014, Florida produced almost three-quarters of the nation's oranges, according to the Farm Bureau.

Now, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the state accounted for 17% of total citrus production in the country during the 2023-2024 season. California led with 79% while Texas and Arizona produced the remaining 4%.

That number is expected to dip significantly for the 2024–2025 season. Even before Milton hit, the USDA projected a 16% drop in Florida's orange production — down to 15 million boxes from nearly 18 million last season, the lowest level since 1933. Grapefruit production is also expected to fall by 22% compared to last year, while tangerine and tangelo output is forecasted to decrease by 11%.

Growers have faced lower demand as well, according to Bloomberg, with some consumers turning away from orange juice due to concerns about its sugar content. This has led some farmers to sell their land for real estate, further reducing citrus acreage in Florida.

The overall harvest in 2024–2025 would be the lowest for Florida since the 1921-1922 season, according to CBS News.

Damage is mounting

Initial damage assessments from Hurricane Milton are still underway, but previous hurricanes offer a bleak forecast.

For example, every citrus-producing county in Florida was affected by Hurricane Irma in 2017, with most harvesters reporting losses of 30%–70%. Initial damage after Irma was estimated to have exceeded $700 million, according to Fox Weather.

Trevor Murphy, a citrus farmer in Highlands County, Fla., was less than two months away from harvest when Milton struck.

"We lost a decent amount of the early crop," he told Bloomberg. Other growers reported similar effects as their groves were severely damaged by tornadoes following Milton's path.

“Given that growers already had lower production due to greening, they can’t afford to lose a single piece of fruit,” Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association, told Bloomberg. “Whether that loss comes out to 20% or 40%, I don’t know, it hurts.”

Jay Clark, a third-generation grower from Wauchula, Fla., told Wired magazine that the situation is "bigger than just our family as citrus growers."

“If a solution isn’t found, there will be no citrus industry,” he said.

What’s next for Florida citrus?

It takes roughly two years for citrus groves to recover from big storms, growers told CBS News. The full extent of Milton's impact may take weeks or even months to fully assess.

Meanwhile, growers, industry leaders and consumers alike will be watching closely for upcoming citrus forecasts, with the next USDA report scheduled for release in November. For now, Florida’s citrus industry remains in survival mode.

"Our citrus growers are resilient," Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, an association representing thousands of Florida farmers, said in a prepared statement last week.

The statement continued: “After fighting citrus greening for nearly two decades and having three major hurricanes in the past seven years devastate the heart of our growing region, growers are weary and will require support from our state and federal partners to continue the industry's comeback.”