Industries Assess Damage; Some Blueberry Growers Report Devastating Losses
by PAUL CATALA
photos provided by MIKE ROBERTS, RAY ROYCE, KYLE STRAUGHN & RYAN ATWOOD
The recent freeze may have dealt a blow to Kyle Story’s citrus trees, but the season won’t be a wash.
Story is vice-president of The Story Companies in Lake Wales, where temperatures dropped to a low of 25 degrees the weekend of Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The Story Companies manage about 1,800 acres of their own citrus groves, mostly in Polk, Hillsborough and Hardee counties.
The freezing temperatures in Florida that weekend caused considerable damage, particularly for citrus. Eight to 10 percent of the crop was affected by temperatures in the mid-20s.
According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, the recent bout of wintry weather may have caused more than $1 billion in losses for the state’s growers, with early assessments showing anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion in damages.
Despite the cold, Florida’s citrus growers say the impact wasn’t too severe, and they are prepared to carry on with the season.
“Although we have experienced damage to citrus trees and leaves, we have plenty of fruit to harvest in the coming weeks and months as we evaluate the extent of the full impact of [the] cold,” Story says.
Highlands County Citrus Growers Association Executive Director Ray Royce says the recent cold spell will have had long-term negative effects for Highlands County and surrounding citrus-growing counties, though it’s too early to know exactly how severe the implications could be. He adds that trees on the Central Florida ridge fared better than those off the ridge.
Royce says the cold killed some young flush and blossom on trees, negatively affecting smaller reset and newer ones. In addition, he says ice inside the fruit could lead to drying.
“I don’t think we had temperatures that are going to kill big trees, but it could’ve been cold enough for long enough durations that there may be dieback on external, smaller limbs, twigs from where the new leaves and the blossoms for the fruit come,” Royce says. “We’ll just have to see how things turn out.”
With more than 208,000 acres of citrus production in Florida, roughly 37,500 acres are in Highlands County.
“The good news is through some programs, a lot of new trees are going into the ground,” says Royce, who has served the association for about 20 years. “It’s unfortunate that we’ve had another weather-related setback. We don’t know if this is a minor or very serious problem yet.”
Florida Citrus Mutual CEO and Executive Vice President Matt Joyner says citrus growers are watching the impact of the recent freezing temperatures.
“Florida’s citrus growers are closely monitoring the impact of recent freezing temperatures,” he says. “Early observations indicate that damage varies, with some areas experiencing greater impact than others. Prior to these recent freezes, growers reported a high-quality crop this season and recent cold snaps likely helped trees acclimate to the conditions. We remain optimistic that treatments, therapies and replanting efforts deployed in recent years will bolster tree health, helping growers pull through and begin to set their crop for next season.”
Citrus was just one of the crops affected.
Blueberries & Strawberries
In blueberry fields across the state, growers are also feeling the pain of the freeze. Kyle Hill, farm manager at Southern Hill Farms in Clermont, says this was the worst freeze he has seen in 15 years of growing blueberries
“It will have a huge effect on Florida’s blueberry season with over half of its volume being wiped out,” Hill reports. “All early production is gone for Central and North Florida, and a good bit of late as well, for those who ran irrigation,” he says.
Doug Phillips, UF/IFAS blueberry extension coordinator, called the freeze “more severe than other Florida winter storms in recent memory.” He says the extreme low temperatures, dew points, and high winds made it difficult for growers to protect their berries using overhead irrigation.
“Some blueberry growers did sustain some levels of damage, and their assessments of that damage are ongoing,” he says. “Sometimes, it can take a week or so for damage to the fruit to be apparent.”
Ryan Atwood of Amber Brooke Farms in Eustis and H&A Farms in Mount Dora says he saw “total devastation” of the blueberry crop, with little expected to be harvested.
“This was the worst freeze of my career of the past 20 years; I hope to never experience that again,” he says.
“Farming is tough; even when you do everything right, you can still lose.”