US: Cold snap destroys 60 acres of bean crops

Cold temperatures have taken a toll on some crops in western Palm Beach County. With the mercury dropping to near or below freezing in some locations, some vulnerable vegetation could not survive. Farmers had been out tending the fields all Wednesday morning, surveying the destruction left behind by what they call 'sub-freezing' temperatures before sunrise. The fields maintained by Knight Management, Inc. just south of County Road 880 near Belle Glade, lost about 60 acres of green bean crops in a matter of hours, farmers said. Though much of this year's green bean crop had already been harvested, some plants that had not yet matured were left in the ground. Farmers were hoping that the area's cold snap would not be so harsh. Nearly all of the green bean plants in approximately 60 acres of fields were a total loss.

"A frost for just a few minutes will take the leaves off but this damage that you see here probably was a result of three or four hours below freezing," said Chris Hopper, Farm Manager for Knight Management, Inc. Hopper said that in one night of cold weather, his company lost between what would have been twelve and fifteen thousand boxes of harvested green beans. That many beans, he said, would be valued at close to $300,000. "It's a bad thing for the whole local economy and a lot of people suffer from it," he said. Green bean crops took the brunt of the cold overnight. Other crops, like nearby sugarcane, survived the cooler temperatures. Many farmers harvested their corn crops last week, avoiding any damage to that particular crop.

Robert Gilbert is a Professor and the Acting Director at the Everglades Research and Education Center, part of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. He knows how much of a gamble farming this time of year can be. "We are at the mercy of Mother Nature here. There are always risks associated with farming and with climate," said Gilbert. "Plants have water in their cells. And all it takes is a few minutes of freezing for that water to expand as ice and kill the plant." Hopper and fellow farmers were able to harvest some of their green beans before the drop in temperature. They are planning to replant the beans in a different part of the farm, hoping the colder temperatures do not return.

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