Florida seems to be losing something that it believed had made it special. Fresh local oranges, a simple pleasure that defined the state, tell the story.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) recently recounted how natural disasters and diseases have reduced Florida’s orange production by 92% since the 2003–04 season.

Roadside stands and backyard trees once offered fruit that put big box store oranges to shame. Today they are essentially gone without any evidence of attempts to preserve them. This collapse isn’t just about agriculture, because it’s about a state trading its soul for generic tasteless development ruining quality of life. The forces killing orange groves — anti-science politics, climate change, unchecked growth, and quick profits — are erasing Florida’s actual distinctive character, replacing it with tepid chain stores in strip malls and cookie-cutter suburbs that could be anywhere… importing California oranges.