Cold Wave Wreaks Havoc on Florida’s Citrus Crop

The frigid weather that swept through much of the South over the holiday weekend has caused substantial damage to Florida’s $3.5-billion citrus crop and hurt other important winter crops, agriculture officials said today.

“This freeze has just devastated us,” said Anne Goodnight, Collier County commissioner. She said she planned to ask Gov. Bob Martinez for disaster aid this week.

In Texas, state officials estimated that 70% of the citrus crop and 80% of the winter vegetable crop were destroyed when temperatures plunged into the low 20s and upper teens.

Losses there were estimated at $200 million. But some Texas officials and growers predicted that they will be higher because warming temperatures ruined any hopes of salvaging the frozen fruit for juice.

Although Florida officials did not release actual production losses, the freeze damage is likely to be substantial since much of the state’s crop was still on the trees when temperatures dipped below freezing starting Saturday.

The plunging temperatures taxed the state’s utilities over the weekend and again today. The power companies tried to divide the misery by cutting electricity to different areas for short periods of time, but the moves wreaked havoc on citrus groves.

Most growers abandoned traditional methods of protecting their crops, such as using smudge pots or wind machines, and instead used networks of microjets, which spray water on the trees to protect them from freezing.

When the power went off, the protective irrigation systems failed.

Immokalee, a winter vegetable production center, was hit hard by the chill.

Farmers said the area lost more than 90% of its tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables.