Orange juice: Will it be available to drink in the future (agriculturally or commercially)?
Citrus greening is an insect-vectored bacterial disease first detected in Florida in 2005. The National Academy of Sciences identified citrus greening as the most serious disease challenge they had ever reviewed. The insect carrying the pathogen is as prevalent in Florida as the mosquito. The fruit growing on infected trees is small, misshapen and is less and less useful for orange juice production. The main options right now is to rogue out infected trees early and to control the insects vectoring the disease with insecticides. But with identification of genes responsible for the disease there is hope for developing resistant trees, most likely via genetic engineering.