"Wild year" makes it difficult for Florida watermelon growers"
For 20 years, watermelon growers in Florida and the US have experienced a small boom in consumption as Americans turn to more fruits and vegetables as part of a healthier diet.
"I'm optimistic because of what I've seen in consumer trends that the watermelon category will continue to grow and flourish," said Chandler Mack, vice president of his family's company, Lake Wales-based Mack Farms, which has 400 acres of watermelons in southeast Polk County.
While the long-term trends for Florida watermelons look good, the 2013 growing season was anything but, Mack said. An unusually cold March may cut watermelon production in Central to South Florida in half.
In Florida, harvested watermelon land totaled 24,400 acres in 2011, the most recent USDA data available. Harvested acreage ranged from roughly 24,000 to 26,000 acres since 2000.
That compares with the 1990s, when harvested watermelon acreage ranged from 30,000 to 45,000 acres. USDA data show Florida's watermelon acreage reached as high as 73,000 acres in 1960, second only to Texas.
But watermelon acreage in Florida and nationally has stabilized during the past decade because of changes in the retail produce market, said Bob Morrisey, Executive Director of the Lakeland based National Watermelon Association. It is no longer profitable to sell on the cash market, in which growers get paid on delivery to a retailer.
"This has been a wild year for growing anything in Florida, not just watermelons," said Mack, also president and chairman of the Florida Watermelon Association, which represents 210 growers.
Temperatures in South and Central Florida during January, when planting begins, were above average, raising the possibility of an early crop, he said.
Then came March, which saw record low temperatures that killed some plants and arrested growth of the survivors, Mack said. Many weakened plants succumbed to diseases when the weather warmed up.
Mack estimated that the March weather will cut watermelon average yields in half over the South and Central Florida growing areas. Watermelons also are grown in the Panhandle and North Florida.
"Because yields are so low, we'll be lucky to get back our investment in the crop," Mack said. "Most Florida watermelon growers will be lucky to break even this year."
Source: heraldtribune.com
