Record heat and above-normal rainfall have played havoc with fruit and vegetable farming in Florida, making tighter supplies and higher prices likely for at least the next couple of months, agriculture experts say. Cabbage crops are suffering in particular, with some of the vegetables growing to football size, whereas other heads are maturing too slowly which means there's a risk they won't be ready by the prime selling time of St. Patrick's Day.
The situation is especially dire in South Florida, which was pelted with nearly 8 inches of rain in four days in early December. Afterward, shipments of cucumbers, endive, escarole, radishes, squash, grape and Roma tomatoes plummeted. The estimated loss was $9 million.
At the end of January, 14 of 15 shipments of Florida crops tracked by the state were running behind, with celery, squash, cabbage, broccoli, strawberries, sweet corn and avocados among the hardest hit.
The Florida Department of Agriculture predicts that shortages will continue through late March or early April. Strawberry prices, for example, shot up in December and are 20 percent to 30 percent higher than last year.
Farmers are having to contend with the death of some plants and the decreased shelf life of others. As a result some farmers are trying to minimize their losses by planting less than 10 percent of their fields with any one crop.
Source: herald-review.com
