Disease may threaten Florida's avocado crop

Florida's avocado industry, the nation's second-largest, could lose millions of dollars if a new disease reaches Miami-Dade County, said University of Florida experts.

 

The state's avocado crop brings in about US$30 million wholesale each year, according to the co-authors of a new paper expected to be published later this year.

 

Commercial avocados grow almost exclusively in Miami-Dade County, and about 60,000 Floridians have at least one avocado tree their yards, the UF researchers said.

 

If laurel wilt disease cut Florida's commercial avocado crop in half, it could cost the state US$27 million in total economic impact and enough lost worker hours to equal 275 full-time jobs, the UF experts said.