each year, many growers are
turning to blueberries. jackie
keenan reports from florida.
"can you help me load up
fruit?"
this land for three generations
grew what florida is known for
- oranges. but after battling
diseases, the costs were
growing faster than the fruit
for carleen gunter and her
family. so they called it quits
and turned to blueberries.
the only way to save the grove
was to replant, and then you
got 5 years before you have
marketable qualities of fruit.
i thought while greening is out
there before they solve this
problem, i can't plant orange
trees, i have to plant something
else.
the bacterial disease called
greening is wiping out acres of
oranges in florida. production
is down 18 percent this year
alone. so growers are turning to
more profitable fruits, making
blue the new orange.
it's successful because we've
been able to get fruit a lot
earlier than we would have with
citrus.
with greening getting worse, and
several blueberry varieties
hearty enough to flourish...