Growing up, my parents insisted that we drink orange juice with breakfast. If there wasn’t any in the refrigerator, one simply looked in the freezer for the can of frozen concentrated and mixed it fresh. I infrequently eat breakfast these days so fruit juice is not important to me but my wife believes that the morning meal should include orange juice.
However, I cannot remember the last time we purchased a can of frozen, concentrated orange juice. We always purchase not-from-concentrate orange juice and the key decision is whether to purchase juice with pulp or no pulp. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, our dietary habits, which mirror those in the general population, have had an enormous impact on growers in Florida.
Frozen concentrated orange juice has been around since the 1940s. Easy to ship and store, it was a staple in the US Army and American homes through the 1960s and 1970s. However, since the 1980s, more not-from-concentrate orange juice has been sold than frozen concentrated juice. Now, sales for not-from-concentrate exceed frozen concentrate by 15 to one. Furthermore, total sales of orange juice has declined--hurt by competition from speciality drinks and exotic juices and is lower than any level since records began being kept in 2002.
Combined with a devastating incurable bacterial disease of the orange tree called “citrus greening”, which has killed thousands of trees, many orange producers in Florida are closing their doors and growers are abandoning their groves. Production is so low that the state of Florida is now home only to seven orange-juice producers when at one time there were 48. To compensate for the drop in production, imports from Brazil have increased but there too, production has been affected by citrus greening and poor weather.
While I am a bit saddened by the loss of orange groves and jobs associated with the production of orange juice and in particular concentrated orange juice, it seems that this is part of the business cycle in America. Food tastes change. Some producers will benefit while others will be hurt. I am not sure that I will increase my own personal orange juice consumption, but when I do join my wife for a glass of not-from-concentrate orange juice, I will have renewed respect for the impact our decisions have on people far away.
