With Florida's citrus farmers facing some of their toughest times due to the combined effect of a spreading tree blight and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, innovation appears to be the key to sustaining exports to Japan, one of their key markets.
A long-standing epidemic that kills fruit trees compounded by pandemic-triggered inflation has created multiple problems for farmers in one of the world's leading citrus-growing regions. This year, shipments could be the worst since 1970.
Dan Richey, a 63-year-old third-generation farmer, has been exporting to Japan, Florida's largest market for grapefruit, from a large citrus farm in Vero Beach for over four decades. He says he is determined to continue doing so.