Florida citrus acreage falls to 200,000 amid greening losses

By Grace Kim

How much citrus acreage has Florida lost?

Florida citrus acreage fell from more than 600,000 acres at the industry’s 2000 peak to about 200,000 acres in 2025, while citrus greening killed 400,000 acres of Florida citrus trees.

Those are separate snapshots, not a year-by-year acreage series. The report provides no survey method for the 2025 estimate and no planted-versus-bearing breakdown, limiting comparisons with the 2000 figure.

Florida still has a 200,000-acre citrus base, but it is roughly one-third of the industry’s peak footprint.

Why are psyllids so damaging?

University of Florida citrus researcher Fernando Alferez left his native Spain shortly before the first discovery of citrus greening, or HLB, in Dade County in 2006. He returned to Spain, then came back to Florida in 2017, after finding an irrevocably altered citrus production model.

Alferez said: “It’s not easy to grow here, and the growers that are remaining tell me very frankly and straightforward, ‘We are here because we are sixth generation or seventh generation, and it’s not going to die with me,’” “They are trying everything to keep going.”

The trees are dead, not merely out of production. Pin-sized, bacteria-carrying psyllids feed during flush periods and favor fresh growth, where they deposit bacteria.

Alferez described the insect feeding on shoots and flowing sap, inoculating bacteria into the phloem stream in the tree’s vascular system. Bacteria then accumulate, triggering an immunity response that stresses the tree, creates callous deposits and blocks carbohydrate transport to roots and leaves.

Breeding resistant varieties and insecticide use have not proved effective.

Psyllids transmit a disease that conventional defenses have not contained.

Can mesh covers slow citrus greening?

Alferez published his first research on individual protective coverings in 2021. By 2023, more than 1 million Florida citrus trees were growing under the fine mesh, according to the report, which provides no survey method or annual adoption series for that estimate.

The covers keep psyllids off trees while allowing them to grow through the critical first years of life. Alferez is now testing covers designed to attract and kill the insects.

Alferez said the project works with a Danish company that builds malaria nets. The experimental nets are lime green to mimic the greening effect that attracts psyllids. Their polymer contains insecticide that kills insects trapped against the cover, allowing researchers to test a more active defense than simple exclusion.

Protective mesh now shields a large young crop while researchers test a more active defense.

Can a $1 topper and fence reduce pest-control costs?

A “beanie,” a smaller lime-green mesh topper fitted over an existing individual cover, can greatly reduce a grove’s psyllid load, Alferez said. The approach especially helps trees older than three years that have outgrown full coverings, and the topper could cost as little as $1.

The report does not specify whether that $1 estimate applies per tree, topper or acre. It also provides no Florida spray costs, orange prices or basis, so the figure cannot support a per-acre margin comparison. No policy change or subsidy enters the reported cost picture.

University of Florida researchers are testing whether a fence made from the same lime-green mesh can match individual covers’ effectiveness at lower cost. Citrus farms abroad may spray insecticide as often as every five days, while HLB-infected trees sometimes receive oxytetracycline injections to prevent bacteria from spreading through the plant.

The cost case remains unproven because the $1 estimate, five-day overseas spraying interval and injection treatment are not comparable farm-level cost data.

Can a new generation rebuild the industry?

Mandarins growing at the Southwest Florida Research and Extension Center show the crop’s resilience as researchers work against HLB. The center’s trial plots are where Alferez and other University of Florida researchers test the tools.

Alferez said: “We’re seeing new groves and new growers, especially in North Florida,” “But, because most of the industry moved south in the late 1900s to avoid frost, most of the generational knowledge there is gone. There is hope though, and excitement, for the next generation.”

New groves and growers offer a path forward, but they must replace knowledge lost when the industry shifted south. Results from the lime-green fence and insecticidal-cover trials will show whether mesh can give those new operations a durable foothold.