FORT MYERS, Fla. — U.S. Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio want to reduce the amount of sugar in your orange juice. The idea is not necessarily for health reasons but rather to keep the orange juice industry pumping out the juice in Florida after it’s taken some recent hits. Orange juice is made fresh at Sun Harvest Citrus in Fort Myers. The USDA requires orange juice to contain a certain amount of natural sugar. The fact is Florida’s oranges aren’t as sweet as they used to be and that forces many companies to blend sweeter juices from Brazil and Mexico. So why is less sugar found in Florida oranges? Experts say the industry has been hit with citrus greening. Dr. Fritz Roka is a professor at the FGCU Center for Agribusiness and said the greening deprives the tree of essential nutrients. Cold weather, crop disease, and pests have also taken a toll on orange groves. The orange grove on the Edison Ford Estates property like many around the state is protected from citrus greening. So lowering the amount of required natural sugar would make our oranges more desirable rather than blending other juices. “Taste-wise I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal. Quite honestly it might actually be a benefit,” Dr. Roka predicted. So while Mother Nature may be putting a little less natural sugar in our oranges. It will ultimately be up to lawmakers to decide if that is appropriate.