Hurricane Ian devastated Florida's citrus crop, but now, in 2024, farmers are hopeful for a better season.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Florida Citrus Mutual is the state's largest trade association for citrus growers and Florida Citrus Mutual CEO Matt Joyner joins us now.
00:10We're going to start off by seeing how the crop is this year in Florida.
00:14Well, it's early, Ariella, but we feel pretty good about what the crop seems to be shaping up as.
00:21You know, we're still in recovery mode from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022,
00:26but we're optimistic that some of the tools we're deploying in the groves are showing some real promise on grove health
00:32and that these trees are going to set a decent crop this year.
00:36Well, you mentioned Hurricane Ian, and we want to know what lessons were learned from growers after Hurricane Ian destroyed the trees two years ago.
00:43Well, there's very little we can do to combat Mother Nature, and so when these massive storms come across,
00:50a lot of times all we can do is be ready to get out there in the aftermath and try to pump water off of groves
00:56and set trees back up and work on the recovery.
01:01And there's a disease called citrus greening. Is that still a challenge for growers?
01:06And if so, how are they getting it under control?
01:09It is. Greening is a very difficult challenge that we have been confronting for about two decades.
01:15Greening has been around in citrus production areas around the world for about 100 years,
01:20and it is the toughest disease citrus has ever faced anywhere in the world.
01:25We've made great strides through research and developing some therapies and other things that are really starting to help the trees to recover from greening,
01:34but we have a long way to go.
01:36And obviously these kind of storms, the impacts from them and the stress on a tree crop generally sets us back in those recovery mode when it comes to dealing with greening as well.
01:48Yeah, that's understood. Well, how about setting forward? How does the future look for Florida citrus growers?
01:54You know, we're optimistic. It's been a rough couple of decades.
01:58When you look at greening, which has really reduced our production,
02:01and then you have multiple storms from Irma back in 2017, Ian, Nicole in 2022,
02:07it has been a tough go here in Florida for the citrus industry.
02:12But growers are committed and they're doing everything they can to help these trees recover
02:17and continue to produce the oranges and the orange juice that our country and the world knows us for.
02:23Matt, OK, one more quick question. This is more personal.
02:27Do you cut your orange to enjoy it and use the wedges or are you peeling the whole orange? Because that's a lot of work.
02:32So we have very juicy oranges. I prefer to juice my oranges and drink it that way.
02:38That's an awesome option, too. Thank you so much, Executive Vice President and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, Matthew Joyner.
02:46Thanks again for joining us here on AccuWeather Early and providing that extra insight on how you enjoy an orange.
02:52Yes, awesome. We're taking you out now into Corpus Christi, Texas.