Hurricanes, past and present

As if that weren’t bad enough, the discovery of the disease coincided with one of the worst hurricane seasons Florida had previously seen. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne in 2004 slashed orange crops by a third. Growers suffered several more years of near recordlow yields after that as injured trees and groves recovered.

Now, many fear the damage from Irma could be even worse.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen in my time in this industry — and I’ve been doing this since 1994,” Shepp said. “Growers were already in a bad situation. This was supposed to be their turnaround year. Then Irma happened.”

Shepp cautions that the full extent of Irma’s damage is not yet known, since many groves remain flooded and unripe oranges are still dropping from trees. But after conversations with dozens of growers and state and federal officials, she said estimates vary from as low as 30 percent losses in central Florida to as high as 100 percent in the south of the state.

The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association is predicting the orange harvest will be down by 70 percent statewide, because of high winds that stripped unripe oranges from branches.

“Irma cut a swath right through the citrus belt,” said Lisa Lochridge, a spokesperson. “Based on the field reports we’ve gotten, there was not a grove in the state that was not affected.”