Low temperatures threaten local produce

In the subfreezing Florida weather, grapefruit groves and strawberry patches have seen brighter days as record cold temperatures cause a shortage of locally grown produce in North Central Florida this harvesting season.

“I’ve been in Florida for 20 years, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Craig Smouse, produce manager at Ward’s Supermarket, one of Gainesville’s largest sellers of locally produced fruits and vegetables.

Recent temperatures, which have dropped as low as 15 degrees in some of the farmland surrounding Gainesville, are destroying even the most well-protected crops.

“The blooms and little pink strawberries that were coming in are all gone now,” said Greg Rogers, partial owner of Rogers Farm, a small farm just north of Gainesville. “We covered them up, but it didn’t do any good.”

The cold wasted about $10,000 worth of strawberry blooms in his patch so far, he said, pushing back the arrival of the year’s first harvest more than one month.

Farther south, a large portion of the Plant City strawberry crop has become another weather-related casualty.

“We had just started getting some [Plant City] strawberries for a two-week period,” Smouse said. “But they’re gone now.”

The cold weather is also harming the citrus crop as orange and grapefruit groves south of Gainesville experience subfreezing temperatures.

Although his fruit from this year has already been picked, Gainesville citrus grower Gene Branch said he does not know if his trees will still be standing next harvest season.

Tarps, blankets, heaters and smudge pots have all been part of Branch’s effort to keep his trees alive and productive.

In addition to citrus and strawberries, beans, squash, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes grown in central Florida have felt the freeze.

“All it takes is one degree, and it makes all the difference in the world,” said Jeanette Mullins, owner of local blueberry farm Monteocha Gardens. “Florida isn’t made for this kind of weather.”