South Florida’s Crops Appeared To Have Weathered Weekend Cold Snap – CBS Miami
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – About fifty percent of South Florida’s fresh produce is grown locally and during the winter months, Florida produces about half of the produce consumed by the entire nation.
So when temperatures drop as they did over the weekend, farmers have to do whatever they can to protect their crops so that yields remain high, or else we could end up paying more at the grocery store.
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Sam Accursio with Sam S. Accursio & Sons Farms is relieved, his crops held up against the big drop in temperature we saw over the weekend.
“We stayed clear of frost for the most part because the wind blew a little bit and we were able to keep everything wet with irrigation so that gives off some warmth,” said Sam Accursio Jr.
He said he’s cautiously optimistic.
Their bean and squash crops were battered by bitterly cold winds over the weekend, so it’s not yet clear what percentage of the crops will be affected.
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If that number is drastic, for his farm and others across the state, it could lead to a supply and demand issue.
“We just have to see the damage in the days to come and see the impact to the consumer because our production in the state of Florida probably went to half of what it should be coming into this weekend. So it may raise the price of produce,” said Accursio.
He said the wind takes a toll on the plants but not as much as a freeze or frost would which is why they are hopeful in a few days their plants will rebound.
“Compared to last January, we had adverse weather all month, rain, wind the whole month of January, and that plant toughens up because it’s being shook around and the root system is trying to hold onto the ground. It was a tougher plant going into this cold wave that we haven’t seen in 10 to 12 years,” Accursio said.
This is a big concern for farmers, the fact that millions of dollars in produce could have been lost in just one day over the weekend.
But so far, things are looking okay.
