Florida’s citrus, fruit and vegetable crops appear to have escaped any widespread damage from some of the coldest weather in years, officials with state growers associations said. A cloud cover helped protect citrus trees in areas where the thermometer hovered around or below freezing, though there may be pockets of damage, said Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual.
“Indications so far are that the industry fared fairly well,” Joyner said in an email. “It appears that we were right on the edge of what could have been a devastating event.”
Florida’s fruit and vegetable growers also reported no widespread damage to crops, though growers are still assessing the cold weather’s impact, said Christina Morton, director of communications for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association.
“Early reports are showing growers were pretty fortunate considering how cold it got and for how long it hung around,” Morton said in an email. Over the Christmas weekend, parts of the Florida Panhandle had wind chills that dipped into the single digits, and interior parts of central Florida had temperatures plunging as low as 27 degrees.
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