The orange trees in the Corkscrew grove still produce fruit, though not nearly as much as they did just a decade ago. Due to hurricanes and pathogens, many are damaged and dying. Branches are spindly, leaves curled and yellowing.
“There was a time not too long ago that these trees were so full and green, you could hardly see through them,” Michael Sparks tells Nikki Fried, the state’s agriculture commissioner, as they survey the damage under a blazing hot sun.
When Sparks looks at the stressed grove, he sees an industry fighting for survival. Yet Fried sees something else: opportunity.
And not just here but across Florida, wherever nature and disease have taken a serious toll on crops and commodities.
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Lori Rozsa ~ Washington Post via NewsHerald.com ~
