Florida Tomato Growers Hurt by Rare Frost
By Michelle Fabio
When Southwest Florida was hit with a rare freeze over the holidays, citrus and vegetable growers did whatever they could to keep their plants warm.
Although there was no mass devastation, one particular tomato grower outside of Immokalee felt the frost—and may have lost as much as 40 percent of the farm’s 350 acres of plants.
Ed Tuten, manager of the Taylor and Fulton Immokalee Farm, credits the “V-ditch” irrigation system used by some farmers as saving many of his neighbors crops; his farm, on the other hand, uses mostly drip irrigation, which conserves water up to 50 percent but leaves tomatoes less protected from a freeze as there is no ground water to shield them from the cold.
An extra two or three degrees at their bases can make all the difference in whether they survive.
Although Tuten and his workers picked about 500,000 pounds of tomatoes in anticipation of the freeze, the manager estimates that they may end up losing 120,000 pounds—or $40,000.
Luckily, though, many other citrus and vegetable growers escaped major losses during this last cold snap.
Read more at Local tomato grower see plants destroyed freeze.
