Your Orange Juice May Cost More…Thanks, Irma

Growing up, we would always spend two weeks at my grandparents' house in Florida. A good chunk of our vacation would be spent at the local orange grove. Since Hurricane Irma barreled down on Florida, the farmers are saying that their crops have been severely affected. It was to be one of the most healthy orange crops in a while and then Irma hit. That's what the orange growers across the state are saying. They did say that they have dealt with freezes and flooding in the past and even hurricanes, but because this storm was pretty much statewide, all crops have been compromised. They estimate that they lost anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of the crops.

The farmers usually begin to harvest the oranges around Thanksgiving, so this was a critical growing time for the trees. Ninety percent of the oranges that are harvested becomes juice. So get ready to pay more at the stores for orange and grapefruit juice.

This makes me so sad. I realize that we can't control Mother Nature, but some of my fondest memories are picking out the freshest oranges right from the grove and having unlimited amounts of fresh squeezed orange juice. My heart goes out to the farmers.