Florida growers could be facing further misery if predictions on the spread of citrus canker come to pass.

Scientists from the US Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences told growers that the hurricanes of 2005 may have spread the disease to 183,000 acres of citrus, around 28 per cent of the land used to grow the fruit.

The latest predictions are more than double the amount of acerage lost to canker this year following the 2004 hurricanes.

A spokesman from growers association Florida Citrus Mutual described the preliminary reports as “overwhelming”.

"This could devastate the Florida citrus industry as we know it today and have an enormous trickle-down impact on citrus-associated businesses and rural communities that rely heavily on the citrus industry for economic sustainability," he said.

At the moment, Florida’s solution to the problem is to remove all trees with 1,900 feet of an infected tree. However, some growers are calling for an end to that rule, and the Florida Department of Agriculture said it is open to other proposals.

At the moment, it is not clear when the USDA will finalise its canker report, but growers are expecting to have a clearer picture of the problem by late spring.

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