Fred Gmitter is one of about 26 faculty members at the University of Florida’ Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences, Citrus Research & Education Center, whose sole job is to focus on citrus.

“Our staff members work on many aspects of citrus,” said Gmitter. “We cover all types of plant pathology, entomology, nematology, breeding, horticulture, processing, pest control and even economics, food safety and much more, which are all related specifically to citrus.”

Gmitter said that while citrus canker continues to be a problem in Florida, and is pretty much spread throughout the state, growers have learned to live with it.

“Research has aided this problem, and today canker is not a death sentence,” he said. “Growers are managing it pretty well.”

Huanglongbing, which is commonly referred to as citrus greening, is a completely different story. The disease is thought to be caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, and is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid insect.

Greening has seriously affected citrus production in Asia, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula. It was discovered in July 2004 in Brazil. Wherever the disease has appeared, citrus production has been compromised with the loss of millions of trees. It has not been reported in Australia or in the Mediterranean Basin.

In August 2005, the disease was found in the south Florida region of Homestead and Florida City. Since that time, it has spread to commercial and residential sites in all counties.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Florida citrus crop report is updated and released monthly, so there is no denying how this disease has and continues to affect Florida citrus” said Gmitter. “Some say that 70 percent of the state’s total crop has been infected, others say that the number is 80 percent, and it’s believed that the number could be even higher than that. It’s hard to find trees anywhere in the state today that don’t show at least some sign of HLB infection.”

The most apparent devastation of greening is the fruit drop that growers are now experiencing. Gmitter explained that this is when the immature fruit drops from the trees, and that current fruit drop is estimated to be between 25 percent and 30 percent.

“Sadly, it’s not only about losing trees, but those people who have managed to stay in business are seeing less and less production every season,” he said. “Another impact is that what is harvested is smaller in fruit size which is occurring across millions of feet of orchards today.”

He added that Florida grapefruit packers today are have a very difficult time. As they are sorting what arrives at their packing sheds, they are throwing more and more fruit away every year because it doesn’t meet the minimum shipping size.

“In other words, a tremendous amount of fruit is being lost in the fields, but even more is being culled out at the packing houses,” said Gmitter.

The citrus industry is also suffering from consumption issues. On Feb. 27, an “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” story headlined “Is America Breaking Up with Orange Juice?” noted that “The U.S. may be in search of a new main squeeze as consumption of orange juice in the U.S. hits a 15-year low.”

“Per capita orange juice consumption among Americans is down almost 40 percent,” Williams reported. “The industry blames the stigmatizing of sugar and changing of the American breakfast habits.”

Gmitter said that although he knows that consumption has been on the decline, it is not one of the issues that his agency deals with, and that it falls under the objectives of the Florida Department of Citrus.

But he does know about the decline in Florida citrus production.

“About 10 years ago Florida growers were producing about 200 million boxes of citrus annually,” he said. “Today they are at about half that amount.

“The processing capacity in the state hasn’t changed,” he continued. “We just don’t have the fruit to process.”

Because of HLB, the number of growers is also declining. Many smaller farms have not been able to be profitable, and so have left the industry.

The frustration of citrus growers is also apparent.

“Every time I go to a grower meeting, I see increasingly more anxiety among them,” said Gmitter. “The last couple of years this anxiety has increased considerably because of the reality that the fruit drop is so great. Some guys just throw in the towel.”

But there are others who still believe that there is a viable citrus industry in Florida, and they are conversely planting somewhat aggressively. Gmitter compared it to the stock market, saying, “When things are bad, most people get out as quick as they can. But there are others who say that it’s the best time to get in the game. But in the case of citrus growers, this is a real minority.”

There is hope on a number of research fronts currently. The Florida citrus industry has been divided into Citrus Health Management Areas.

“This is an areawide strategy of controlling the psyllid,” said Gmitter. “This is a lesson we learned from China where they have been able to wipe out the insect in controlled areas. By implementing this strategy here, we’ve learned how to better manage the disease.

“There are also new growing techniques,” he continued. “Tightly packed orchards allow for higher-density yields. Research is also showing hope that GMO trees may be more resistant to the disease. This is a longer term strategy, but if anything is going to work, consumption will have to be increased as production increases.”

New types of rootstock are another area of research that is showing promise, but Gmitter stressed that, “Everything I’m saying is ‘in this point in time.’ “