As Florida’s citrus crop declines, imports take on new importance

BRADENTON — Anthony Rossi, founder of Fruit Industries, Inc. — what would go on to become Tropicana Products — saw gold in the orange groves of Manatee County.

He started his business in

1947 by buying oranges and grapefruits from growers in the Bradenton area to supply the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York with 1,000 gallons of sliced citrus fruit a week.

In the 1950s, he owned and operate refrigerated trucks, making possible the shipmentofperishablefreshcitrus products across the United States.

When he retired as chairman,presidentandchiefoperating officer of Tropicana in

1979, he was still sampling Tropicana’s orange juice daily.

Rossi, who died in 1993 in Bradenton at age 92, would undoubtedly be saddened to learn what has happened to Florida’s once abundant crop.

Last week, Tropicana advised the state of Florida it was closing its Fort Pierce juice operation because of the decline in the Florida orange crop and that it was moving thoseoperationstoitsBradenton plant.

The moves comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s final orange crop estimate for the 2021-22 season forecast 40.7 million boxes of oranges. That is down sharply from just two years ago when

71.9 million boxes of oranges were forecast.

The peak Florida orange forecastinrecentyearswasfor

170millionboxesoforangesin the 2007-08 season.

The decline can be blamed on diseases, such as greening and canker. Greening, also known as Huanglongbing disease, is a bacterium that kills the tree and is spread by a tiny insect, the Asian Citrus Psyllid.

Janet Mixon, who owns MixonFruitFarmsinBradenton with her husband, Dean, said they had orange trees that were planted in the late

1800s and weathered hurricanes and freezes. But they proved to be no match for citrus diseases.

“We had to replant 20,000

treesoneyearandthen20,000 trees again the next year. We couldn’t keep up with it,” she said.

TheMixonseventuallysold acreage across the street from their store that is now a housing development.

Without the diseases, they never would have sold, Mixon said.

Other citrus growers have also sold their groves to developers as well because of citrus diseases.

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, developers of Lakewood Ranch, was once a major player in orange production with 1,400 acres in citrus. However, the extensive citrus groves along Lorraine Road are now gone, replaced by rooftops in new neighborhoods.

Asked about the future of the Bradenton and Fort Pierceplants,TropicanaProducts provided a statement last week:

“The Fort Pierce facility will remain open and an important part of the Tropicana footprint. We will not be processing fruit there, which is just one element of our manufacturing operations. The Bradenton plant will not be affected by this change and remains the largest juice manufacturing facility in the country.

“We can tell you that as the leader in OJ, we have been and continue to be the largest purchaser of Florida oranges and remain committed to the state’s citrus industry,” Tropicana said.

Tropicana estimates that it buys about 30% of all oranges grown in Florida.

Juice imports through SeaPort Manatee have helped make up for the shortage of Florida-grown citrus.

“Even before the closure of the plant in Fort Pierce, our number of juice tankers has increased significantly,” said Carlos Buqueras, executive director of SeaPort Manatee.

In fiscal year 2021, those tankers called on SeaPort Manatee with 109 million gallons of orange juice from Brazil. Already in fiscal 2022 (which ends Sept. 30), juice vessels have delivered 99 milliongallonsofBrazilianOJ.

Compare that to 48 million gallons imported at SeaPort Manatee in 2017, and 27 million gallons in 1985.

“You could just about correlate the drop in the Florida orange crop to the juice coming from Brazil,” Buqueras said.

The Brazilian juice is blended with juice squeezed from Florida trees and flash pasteurized — a process developed by Tropicana to minimize the time the orange juice is exposed to heat while providingmaximumnutrition and flavor.

“The oranges Tropicana uses for its juices have different ripening seasons — so some stored juice is blended with fresh juice and a bit of the natural oils found in the orange peel and in the juice to deliver the most consistent and best-tasting juice. Pulp may be mixed in at this point, too, depending on the product,” Tropicana says on its web site.

In August 2021, PepsiCo Inc. announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell Tropicana, Naked and other juice brands across North America to PAI Partners for pretax cash proceeds of $3.3 billion.

Under terms of the deal, PepsiCo retained a 39% non-controllinginterestinthe joint venture. Pai Partners is a French-based private equity company.

Previous owners of Tropicana Foods have included Beatrice Food Co., Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Seagram Co. Ltd. of Montreal, Canada.