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 Re: حقو الزول يجرب زراعة البندورة الأمريكية دى فى الزيداب (Re: Osman Musa)
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Florida farmers will sustain at least a 30% crop loss due to freezing temperatures, resulting in losses of the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to preliminary data from the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
The cold snap has come at a time for a state that has suffered more than most from the housing-market downturn.
"We had a lot of damage; we just got devastated," said Paul Allen, co-owner of R.C. Hatton Farms near Pahokee, Fla., who grows green beans and sweet corn on 6,000 acres.
Everything from fruits and vegetables to nursery plants and shrubs to tropical fish felt the effects of the freeze. Tomatoes were particularly hard hit, with about 70% of the crop in southwest Florida, a main growing region, likely wiped out, according to Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.
For consumers, particularly on the East Coast, some products will be in short supply and prices will be higher, as crops such as citrus, tomatoes, sweet corn, bell peppers, snap beans, strawberries and squash were hurt. Businesses that rely on Florida produce may have to scramble to get products elsewhere.
Growers continue to survey fields, and the full extent of the damage won't be known for days or weeks. But the damage, the worst cold weather-related event the state has faced in at least two decades, already has started pushing prices higher.
Wholesale prices for tomatoes, orange juice and lettuce had climbed nearly 40% last week on the East Coast, said Nelson Eusebio, executive director of the National Supermarket Association. The group represents 400 independent supermarket owners in the New York metropolitan area.
A 25-pound box of south Florida "mature green" tomatoes, or "slicers," as they are known, on Jan. 4 ranged from $15.95 to $17.95. As of Friday, that same box cost as much as $23.95, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service.
Mr. Eusebio said the higher prices at supermarkets could last for three or four weeks.
Consumers in the eastern U.S. and eastern Canada will feel the effects more than consumers in the western U.S., but there will be ripples across the country as growers in California and Mexico step up to fill the gap.
"The name of the game in the produce business these days is year-round supply. That has helped provide some diversity in how many suppliers [that retailers] have," said Ray Gilmer, vice president of communications at the United Fresh Produce Association, which represents U.S. growers, processors and retailers.
McDonald's Corp. sources tomatoes from Florida during certain times of the year, but the company's restaurants won't suffer a supply shortage owing to the Florida damage, spokeswoman Danya Proud said.
"We count on our suppliers to have contingencies in place. Where there might be a lack of supply, our suppliers have alternative sourcing," Ms. Proud said.
While imported tomatoes will fill some of the void for some buyers, imports can be difficult to obtain at the last minute, as much food is grown under contract to buyers.
Grocers might try to point consumers to other options if supplies of their favorite fresh items aren't available. Libba Letton, spokeswoman for Whole Foods Market Inc., said stores are recommending frozen berries or produce that is in season in the regions. The company expects strawberries and tomatoes to be in short supply for the next six weeks.
Fruit and vegetable processors and marketers are trying to stay nimble. Marty Ordman, a spokesman for Dole Food Co., one of the world's largest marketers of fresh fruit and vegetables, doesn't anticipate any problems because of the freeze. Dole, of Westlake Village, Calif., buys some strawberries and romaine lettuce from Florida, but any shortfalls can be made up from product out of California, Mexico or Yuma, Ariz., where much of the winter lettuce is grown.
Representatives for H.J. Heinz Co. and Campbell Soup Co., big users of tomatoes, said they wouldn't be affected by the Florida freeze because they get tomatoes from California.
Coca-Cola Co., which makes Minute Maid drinks, is "watching the situation," said spokesman Ray Crockett. The firm gets most of its orange juice from Florida oranges, but declined to comment on any fallout from the Florida freeze.
Orange juice prices at the supermarket have held relatively steady even as some industry participants estimate that the freeze damage could reduce this year's Florida orange crop by 5% or more. Frozen concentrated orange juice futures soared two weeks ago, but moderated last week as initial damage reports weren't as bad as many feared. Also, orange-juice inventories are high by historical standards. On Friday, front-month orange juice-futures on ICE Futures U.S. fell 1.2 cents, or 0.9%, to $1.3175 a pound. Markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Matt McLean, a fourth-generation citrus grower near Orlando, said crop losses for the 1,000-acre operation at the Clermont-based Uncle Matt's Organic, the oldest organic citrus company in the U.S. and biggest in Florida, likely were about 5% to 10%. At least one farmer nearby lost about 30%, said Mr. McLean, founder and chief executive of Uncle Matt's. "God smiled on us," he said.
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Osman Musa
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست