Frigid fields are blasting crops in Manatee, Sarasota

MANATEE — Some growers are relying on a sense of humor to cope this winter.

“I’ve been telling people I’m gonna retire and move to Florida,” jokes Bob Spencer, of Palmetto’s West Coast Tomato.

Says Ralph Garrison of Bradenton’s Suncoast Nursery, “I can’t remember when I last wore shorts. The only people wearing shorts are tourists.”

The winter of 2009-10 will go down in history as the seventh-coldest December, January and February in the history of Manatee and Sarasota counties, said John McMichael, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

The frigid days, which are not yet over, have had a great impact on local agriculture.

Manatee lost 25 percent to 35 percent of all of the vegetables it had in the ground this winter, which is also a statewide average, said Terry McElroy, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Tomatoes are down 40 percent, McElroy said.

Citrus and grapefruit are down 7 percent to 8 percent.

The strawberry crop was delayed due to flooded fields as growers doused the plants in water to insulate them.

“There wasn’t a huge loss of strawberries,” McElroy said.

Manatee vegetable grower Ben King on Thursday said he lost everything in January, including tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant and sweet corn.

The only crops that survived the cold were broccoli, turnips, mustard greens, spinach and sweet onions.

It was so bad that King closed his King Farm Myakka on 60th Street East for the season and will reopen this spring.

Although he’s a small grower, he has friends in Manatee commercial operations who all say this winter was unprecedented.

“My buddies say their tomatoes were planted the same time as normal this winter,” King said. “Tomato plants usually grow up to four ties on the stake by harvest. Usually, by this time, they are almost at the third tie. But these plants are still at the first tie. So, they are expecting a later spring harvest and not a vigorous tomato bush.”

The January freezes hit tomato growers hard in Lee, Hendry and Collier counties in January, decimating 70 percent of a crop that was about ready to harvest, McElroy said.

Manatee tomato farmers would have loved to fill in the gaps April 1, but they can’t until mid-April.

“There’s pretty much going to be a shortage of tomatoes in stores in March,” Spencer said.

To give an example of how scarce tomatoes are right now, a 25-pound box of tomatoes was selling on the wholesale market Thursday for $30, which could be an all-time high, said Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee.

“Last year at this time, tomatoes were selling for $6.50 to $7 for the same 25-pound box,” Brown said.

“We don’t have any tomatoes to sell right now,” said Brown, who confirmed that fast food establishments and restaurants are serving tomatoes only on request or not at all.