Finally tonight, researchers in Florida are testing a new gene-edited tree that they hope will be able to fight off the tiny insects that have been devastating Florida's orange groves for years.

Here's PBS Iowa's Colleen Krantz.

Ron English's family had been in the Florida citrus industry for generations, but when

a disease called citrus greening began ravaging his orange and grapefruit groves, his family

business came to a crashing halt.

About 2015, we decided that greening had hurt us enough to where to where the quality of the fruit wasn't there.

And when it hit us, it hit his heart.

What we knew to do to keep the trees alive didn't work.

So we made a decision just to shut our operation down.

My father-in-law and our family had been in the citrus business since 1895.

What happened to the English family has become increasingly common across Florida.

Since citrus greening first emerged about 20 years ago, producers in the state have lost

63% of their citrus-bearing acres.

Some growers switched to other forms of agriculture, while many others, like English, sold

to developers.

We were able to sell something we didn't want to do.

All this massive change has been caused by a tiny bacterium spread by the non-native Asian citrus

silud.

The insects burrow inside leaf folds and deposit the bacteria when they feed.

There is no cure for the infected trees.

All will eventually die.

For generations, Americans have associated Florida with oranges.

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