FLORIDA FREEZE EXPECTED TO HEAT UP RETAIL VEGETABLE PRICES

RALPH RAIOLA

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Agriculture, based here, is expecting retail prices on several vegetable commodities to increase between 50% and 100% due to the recent freeze that blanketed growing areas in the state.

Officials at the Department of Agriculture estimated last week that between $200 million and $300 million worth of damage hit winter vegetable crops in a number of different growing regions.

"Right now, it's at about $250 million, but that's not including the citrus crops," said Bob Crawford, commissioner for the department.

The cold snap, which hit Florida the weekend of Jan. 18 and 19, was the state's worst freeze since 1989, according to department officials.

Sources said tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, squash, cucumbers, sweet corn, zucchini, eggplant and radishes were among the hardest hit commodities.

"And the sugar cane damage is at about $25 million," Crawford said.

While only about 45% of this season's citrus crop has been picked, sources believe the crop was relatively spared from the cold snap's wrath.

"There may be some loss in volume, but this was not a situation where we're going to lose a lot of fruit," Crawford said. He said the department was still waiting for further reports, because citrus damage takes longer to calculate.

An official for Tropicana, based in Bradenton, Fla., in a statement released shortly after the freeze hit, predicted that the cold snap "will result in a reduction in juice yields and total crop size."

Tropicana officials who visited the citrus groves said ice and slush were found in all fruit examined.

However, "Nobody's really saying what the extent of the damage to the citrus crop is," added Mark Gutsche, a spokesman for Tropicana.

The weather was dubbed a Hopscotch Freeze because of its scattered pattern, hitting a number of different areas including the western, southwestern and extreme southern regions.

"The vegetable industry was hit hard in some areas, but it depended on where you were," said Michael Stuart, executive vice president of the Florida Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association in Orlando, Fla.

Some say more could have been done to salvage the crops if weather reports by the majority of forecasters had been more accurate, although the temperatures were so low they surprised everyone.

"They predicted low-to-mid 30s, but it was in the low 20s," Stuart said.

"With ample notice, there are certain procedures farmers can take, whether it's applying water or something else.

"But when you get down to 19 or 20 degrees, there's not a whole lot you can do."