A smoking pile of ash smolders where just days before a legacy orange grove stood. The rumble of bulldozers hums from adjacent groves on their way to a similar fate. These are the latest victims of citrus greening disease, a blight that's cost Florida half its million acres of groves in the past two decades.
Once greening infects a tree, the rest of the grove has no chance of escaping. The disease is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. The above scene has been played and replayed countless times since the presence of the HLB bacteria – huanglongbing in full -- was discovered in Florida in 2005.
A greening-infected citrus grove. (Photo: Donna Sanders)
However, methods are underway around Florida to fight/circumvent greening. While some growers remain, others have moved on to other crops or sold their land to developers.
The story of that fight comes to national television Friday, March 29 at 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. EDT on the RFD-TV Network's (DirecTV, Dish, Cable, Sling) series Where The Food Comes From. The episode is titled A Day Without Sunshine.
Where The Food Comes From host Chip Carter with Dundee's Steve Callaham. (Photo: Donna Sanders)
The most promising of the efforts to fight greening is called CUPS – Citrus Under Protective Screen. The CUPS effort – and investment – has been led by Dundee Citrus Growers. Steve Callaham walks through the remains of groves that were in production when he was a child. He's pragmatic about the situation – and determined to find a solution.
"Citrus is too important to us – and to Florida – to give up," says Callaham, CEO of the Dundee co-op. "It's also still a very viable cash crop and there's a future here."
Dundee, like many other growers, has also branched out into other crops and is now a contributor to Florida's blueberry business. It is also one of a handful continuing to experiment with a peach designed to produce in Florida's sub-tropical climes.
A new citrus tree growing under cover. (Photo: Donna Sanders)
Modern outdoor Florida groves are almost gnarled sentinels staving off their demise even as they continue to produce fruit. By contrast, the groves under cover are lush and uniform. The screens keep out the tiny bug that spreads the infection and the results are beautiful fruit and trees that produce twice as much as their outdoor counterparts.
"We first visited Dundee in 2019 for the pilot episode of the show," says show host and producer Chip Carter. "What we saw then was depressing, but promising, with just the first small structures surrounded by acres of ugliness. Four years later, Florida still has a long way to go in this fight. It's clear they'll keep fighting it.
For more information:
Chip Carter
Where The Food Comes From
Tel: +1 (813) 838-1577
https://WhereTheFoodComesFrom.com