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FORT PIERCE, FLA. — There seem to be more tractors tearing up St. Lucie County’s old citrus groves than tending them these days.
This county once had more orange and grapefruit trees than almost any other place in Florida, the nation’s largest citrus producer. Now it’s one of the fastest-growing counties in one of America’s fastest-growing states, and that land is fast giving way to housing tracts.
Previously high land prices, diseases such as citrus canker and the rising cost of trees are hurting farmers and driving orange juice prices to record levels, up more than a third since 2002.
