FL Freeze Damages Cost $300M

The mid-January freeze on Florida vegetable crops are showing up in USDA numbers, USDA Economist Gary Lucier said. Florida shipments of most major vegetables are 10% to 30% of normal, Brownfield Ag News reports.

Lucier said, “The estimated freeze loss of the shipping point for those top seven vegetables would be about $300 million with tomatoes accounting for about half of that.”

About two-thirds of the tomato crop in the major growing region of Florida was lost. Mexico has filled much of the produce void, according to USDA, and that’s why those vegetable prices have not risen dramatically at grocery stores.