Florida’s orange groves, once sprawling empires that fueled breakfast tables nationwide, now stand as skeletal reminders of a industry’s swift unraveling. Production has plummeted from 242 million 90-pound boxes in 2023 to a projected 12 million for the 2026 harvest—the state’s worst output in over a century, according to USDA estimates . Every commercial tree in the state carries the bacterial scourge known as citrus greening, or huanglongbing (HLB), spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. Leaves yellow and droop. Fruit stays small, bitter, green-tinged. Trees choke from within. No cure exists. Researchers agree: 100% infection rate. The psyllid arrived around 1998, the bacteria in 2005. By now, devastation. Clive Bock, a USDA agricultural researcher, warned Slate it could creep along the Gulf Coast. Rick Dantzler, COO of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, called 2026 a “dumpster fire of a year” at the Florida Citrus Show, as reported by Futurism . Hurricanes, sprawl, trade spats—all piled on.…