--- title: "You’ll Spill Your Juice When You Learn How Many of Florida’s Orange Trees This Incurable Bacteria Has Already Infected" description: "A devastating bacteria known as citrus greening disease is rotting Florida's orange groves from the inside out." date: "2026-04-23" modified: "2026-04-23" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/orange-bacteria-citrus-industry" categories: - "Agriculture" - "Bacteria" - "Food" - "Future Society" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "Pathogens" - "Science & Energy" --- # You’ll Spill Your Juice When You Learn How Many of Florida’s Orange Trees This Incurable Bacteria Has Already Infected ![A person wearing a blue robe is pouring orange juice from a plastic bottle into a glass, but missing the glass and spilling it down their hand. The background is solid orange.]() *Getty / Futurism* Whether you take it with pulp or without, you may soon be lucky just to get some OJ at all as one of the largest citrus industries in the world suffers a massive collapse. According to a [bombshell new story in *Slate*](), Florida's once-proud orange groves have experienced a major decline in fruit production over the last few years, and the devastation is almost certainly just getting started. While there are plenty of reasons for a downturn in orange production — [climate change](), [Donald Trump's trade wars](), [suburban development]() — perhaps none are as ravaging as citrus greening disease, a bacterial infection that slowly chokes orange trees from the inside out. Citrus greening disease is primarily transmitted by a sap-sucking bug known as the Asian citrus psyllid. Once the psyllid starts gnawing on a defenseless orange tree, it's pretty much a done deal; the tree's leaves become yellowed and flaccid, and its fruit wilted and green. As the [University of Florida notes](), "there is no cure for citrus greening." When *Slate* sent a reporter to canvas industry researchers and citrus farmers about how many of Florida's orange trees were afflicted with the devastating bacteria, their answer was unanimous: 100 percent of the state's orange trees are infected. "It could spread to the whole Gulf Coast," USDA agricultural researcher Clive Bock told *Slate*. Given the state of the outbreak, it's entirely possible greening disease heralds the total collapse of Florida's orange industry over the next few years. In 2023, Florida produced 242 million 90-pound boxes of oranges. For the 2026 harvest season, the US Department of Agriculture estimates Florida's orange groves will put out just [12 million boxes](), the state's worst output in over 100 years. As Citrus Research and Development Foundation COO Rick Dantzler told attendees at the 2026 Florida Citrus Show, it's already "been a dumpster fire of a year." **More on agriculture:** *[Robot Dogs Patrolling Precious Crops as Food Crisis Deepens]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()