Mass of ripe citrus fruits oranges in metal container and working conveyor — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Tanya Kalian
Fort Myers, Florida — Only months after declaring it would stop growing citrus at the conclusion of this year’s season, one of Florida’s largest citrus farmers intends to construct a 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) community in southwest Florida.
According to Alico, Inc., it has submitted a development application for the first of two villages close to the point where Lee, Hendry, and Collier counties converge. According to the firm, each village will include roughly 4,500 residences and 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of protected conservation land.
The Fort Myers-based corporation holds 48,700 acres (19,700 hectares) of oil, gas, and mineral rights in the state of Florida, as well as 53,371 acres (21,600 hectares) spread across eight counties. Last January, the corporation announced that it was ending its citrus operations because its production had decreased by about three-quarters in just ten years.
Alico’s problems are a component of the citrus industry’s broader problems in Florida.
Over the past 20 years, the state’s orange production has decreased by 90 percent due to hurricanes and a severe citrus greening disease. In the meantime, developers are gradually constructing homes where the orange groves formerly stood as a result of the massive influx of people into Florida.
Florida had more than 832,00 acres (337,000 hectares) of citrus groves at the turn of the century, but this year there were only about 275,000 acres (111,300 hectares), and California is now the country’s largest producer of citrus.
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