We live at a time when most people don't know where their food comes from, and so they have no idea that we are facing an agricultural nightmare in 2026. Yesterday, I published an article about the historic drought that is devastating our heartland and the nightmarish fertilizer crisis that has been caused by the war in the Middle East. Today, I am going to talk about the stunning decline of the U.S. cattle herd, concerns about the winter wheat harvest, and the frightening drop that we have witnessed in Florida orange production.

I have said this before, but I will say it again.

If farmers don't grow our food, we don't eat.

When I was growing up, everyone was drinking Florida orange juice.

Sadly, that is no longer true.

This year, the number of oranges that will be harvested in Florida will be down 95 percent from 1996…

But now, the fruit that helped build Florida is disappearing. The orange is falling victim to disease, disasters and development.

Just how far the orange crop has fallen is shocking. Thirty years ago, 225 million boxes of oranges were picked from Florida orange groves. That was almost enough for one box of oranges for every American in the mid-1990s. This year, the forecast from the U.S. Agriculture Department is 12 million boxes. That is a drop of 95% in one generation.

How in the world could this have happened?

Well, the cold weather that Florida experienced during the month of February severely damaged orange production. But the far bigger problem is citrus greening disease. It is not going to go away, and it could potentially completely wipe out Florida's oranges…

The cold weather in February cost the citrus industry almost $700 million according to a preliminary estimate from the state agricultural commission. Most of the loss is from a smaller crop and damaged trees.

And then there's the decades-long fight against a small bug that has been turning Florida's oranges green. Citrus greening disease is caused by a bacterial infection spread by the Asian citrus psyllid. The bug showed up in Florida almost 30 years ago. The first signs of the disease were visible in citrus groves about 20 years ago.