Florida’s citrus, fruit and vegetable crops appear to have escaped widespread damage from some of the coldest weather in years, officials with state grower associations said Tuesday.
A cloud cover helped protect citrus trees in areas where the temperature was hovering or below freezing, although there may be pockets of damage, said Matt Joyner, chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual.
“Indications so far are that the industry has done quite well,” Joyner said in an email. “It looks like we were right on the brink of what could have been a devastating event.”
Florida produce growers also reported no widespread crop damage, though growers are still assessing the impact of cold weather, said Christina Morton, director of communications for the Florida Produce Association.
THE ‘BOMB CYCLONE’ WILL IMPACT HOLIDAY TRAVEL WITH BLIZZER AND COLD TEMPERATURES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
“Early reports show that the growers were quite lucky considering the cold weather and how long it lasted,” Morton said in an email.
Over the weekend, parts of the Florida Panhandle had wind chills that dropped to single digits, and inland parts of central Florida saw temperatures dip as low as 27 degrees Fahrenheit. At Tampa International Airport, the thermometer dipped below freezing for the first time in nearly five years.
Florida’s citrus, fruit and vegetable crops appear to have escaped widespread damage from some of the coldest weather in years, state grower association officials said December 27, 2022.
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
Florida is the main supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables to the rest of the country during the winter, and last week growers harvested as much of their crop as possible before the Arctic blast. In the middle part of the state, where blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are grown, growers used overhead irrigation to spray a protective layer of ice around the fruit.
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Florida agriculture has already been hit this fall by two hurricanes: Ian and Nicole. Hurricane Ian hit citrus groves hard, as well as the state’s large livestock industry, dairy operations, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and even hundreds of thousands of essential bees for many growers.
Citrus is big business in Florida, with more than 375,000 acres in the state devoted to oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and the like for an industry worth more than $6 billion annually. Most Florida oranges are used for juicing, and this season’s drastically lower crop, combined with Ian’s hit, will push prices up and force growers to rely even more on California and imported oranges. from Latin America.
