Despite being known as one of the hottest states in the United States, Florida experienced an uncharacteristic hard freeze that caused worry among farmers.
What's happening?
As Naples Daily News reported, farmers in Southwest Florida rushed to cover their winter crops as the threat of a prolonged freezing period in late January and early February loomed.
The hard freeze — serious freezing conditions when temperatures drop below 28 degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period — shocked agricultural industry experts, as they had not seen such abnormal temperatures in the region in over a decade.
The freeze had the potential to kill crops and cost farmers up to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. As such, farmers scrambled to defend their winter crops against the imminent inclement weather.
One farmer, Alfie Oakes, founder and president of Oakes Farms of Collier County, shared that he had spent close to $300,000 to $400,000 to try to protect his over 1,000 acres of crops, for which he had no crop insurance. His employees laid down 1.5 million plates and cups to cover small plants, and 100 full truckloads of cut palmetto leaves to cover the big plants.
According to Naples Daily News, this preparation could either cost Oakes $10 million in losses or earn him $10 million in gains, depending on whether the plants survive the inclement weather.
"This isn't going to be pretty," John Hardiman, CEO of American Farms Naples, stated, per Naples Daily News. "This is going to be catastrophic in Florida."
Why are crop losses concerning?
Some Florida farmers are still recovering from dismal autumn sales — the result of an oversupply of some fall produce crops, which forced farmers to sell below their production costs.
The abnormal cold temperatures in Florida are also exacerbating crop and agricultural losses, which further increases their financial strain.
The cold front that arrived in Florida a few weeks prior to this hard freeze, for example, destroyed much of the pastureland in Southwest Florida, forcing farmers to buy expensive feed to sustain their livestock.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 This hard freeze will affect a number of cold-sensitive, essential crops, including tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, green beans, basil, and citrus plants — the last of which already face a losing battle against the incurable citrus greening disease.
As farmers' production costs increase, this inflation is passed on to the everyday consumer who shops for groceries at a markup price.
What's being done about crop losses?
A hard freeze is more than just intolerable weather. It can devastate farmlands and lead to significant losses in the agricultural industry.
Extreme weather, such as frost in this case, is exacerbated by harmful planet-warming pollution from burning coal, gas, and oil for energy. Modulating such extreme weather conditions requires a concerted effort to lower emissions.
While it is impossible to control the weather to preserve crop yields and the human food supply, we may find satisfactory answers in science and technology.
AirSeq, for example, allows farmers to keep a pulse on the health of their food crops, sniffing out early signs of disease or fungal infections that could cause even greater crop loss.
Scientists have also found a way to combat reduced crop yields by overcoming photorespiration, a metabolic process that impacts crop productivity.
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