Florida’s sugarcane farmers and cattle ranchers, still digging out from historic freeze, brace for invasive mealybug

Florida’s sugarcane farmers and cattle ranchers barely had time to count what a recent freeze took. Now they’re staring down something with legs.

Just months after what agricultural leaders are calling the most damaging freeze in modern Florida history, the state’s growers are facing a fresh threat: an invasive mealybug that has already torn through producers in Texas and Louisiana — and has now turned up in South Florida.

Researchers and agricultural officials warn the pest could do serious damage to both pasturelands and sugarcane if effective controls aren’t found fast. It was first detected in the state in late May.

According to a recent update from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), the pasture mealybug (Heliococcus summervillei) has been tied to “pasture dieback” in Australia and spread rapidly after its first U.S. detection in Texas in 2025.

UF/IFAS researchers confirmed recent detections in Louisiana and reported that Florida’s first known case landed in late May 2026 on limpograss in South Florida. Additional infestations have since been confirmed across multiple counties.

For ranchers already squeezed by rising costs and weather losses, the timing couldn’t be worse.

“We have begun to see the impact of the mealybug in our cattle pastures, which, left untreated, could have potentially dire consequences for Florida’s cattle industry,” said Joe Hilliard Jr. of Hilliard Brothers of Florida. “Input costs continue to rise, and weather challenges — including drought and freezing temperatures this winter — have already put significant pressure on producers. Facing mealybugs couldn’t come at a worse time.”

For the sugar industry, the pest is one more blow in a brutal year. Back-to-back freezes from late December through early February delivered an estimated $1.1 billion in damage to Florida’s sugarcane crop, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Now growers are scrambling for tools to keep the mealybug from becoming the next line item in the ledger.

“The rapid expansion of the infestation coupled with the quick deterioration of crop quality has taken farmers by surprise,” said Jarad Plair, past president of the Hendry/Glades Farm Bureau and a local sugarcane farmer. “We hope to work with state and federal officials to ensure farmers have access to safe, proven solutions before this issue becomes much more widespread.”

UF/IFAS reports there are currently no insecticides specifically labeled for mealybug control in pasture systems. And because sugarcane is a grass crop, researchers believe it may be just as vulnerable.

Worse, the Texas experience suggests many common pasture insecticides barely dent the problem — the mealybug spends much of its life cycle tucked away in thatch and soil, out of reach of conventional treatments.

Agricultural leaders are pressing for continued research and tighter coordination among growers, universities and regulators to get ahead of the pest before it digs into more of Florida’s farm country. Producers who suspect an infestation can report it to FDACS through its Division of Plant Industry.

___

Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.