Florida orange growers are harvesting their smallest crop in nearly 90 years, the result of an ill-timed freeze, two hurricanes and citrus disease that is laying waste to its groves.
The Sunshine State is expected to produce just 18 million 90-pound boxes of oranges, the Agriculture Department said last week. That would be less than half the size of last year’s poor crop and a 93% decline from Florida’s peak output in 1998.
