Wintry Weather Challenges Crops

AccuWeather.com reports while frigid temperatures will continue to challenge citrus producers throughout the week, the next cold wave scheduled to begin by the weekend could bring even lower temperatures to agricultural areas in Florida, Georgia, Texas and much of the Gulf Coast.

Overnight temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to reach the 20s and 30, forecasters say. If the mercury falls that low, citrus growers will face a challenge.

"Temperatures over much of citrus country in Florida will dip to between 27 and 34 degrees again Tuesday morning and perhaps Wednesday morning," said Dale Mohler, an agricultural meteorologist with Accuweather, the Daily Commercial's weather service.

Mohler also reported that the cold won't be severe enough or around long enough to cause severe damage. However, there is an indication that the next cold front could bring dangerously lower temperatures to Texas beginning Thursday and starting in Florida this weekend, prompting fears of major crop losses.

Citrus growers statewide are rushing to pick sunburst oranges from the trees ahead of the frost and freeze warnings. But for a number of grower’s through the state of Florida with other varieties of citrus -- grapefruit, Valencia's and navels -- it's too early to pick.

Temperatures are expected to hover near or below freezing point throughout the rest of the week in central Florida and that has growers there concerned about their crops which include strawberries, sweet corn, snap beans, peppers, cucumbers and squash grown around Lake Okeechobee.

"It's too early to tell [if there are any crop losses]," said Jennifer Nelis, spokeswoman for The Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association told CBS4. "If people were proactive and protected their plants, they haven't sustained too much of a loss."

Growers say the risk of damaging cold to strawberries and other fruits and vegetables will stretch from southern Texas to Louisiana to Florida.

The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service forecast below-normal temperatures from Texas to Maine through Jan. 17.

Growers can use preventive measures varying from spraying the groves with water and the use of burning Kerosene ‘smudge’ pots, though both measures are only effective in marginal temperature situations.

Affecting the corn industry, about 500 million bushels are stuck under snow in North Dakota and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin, according to Martell Crop Projections.

U.S. farmers have harvested much of 2009’s corn crop, but around 500 to 600 million bushels remained in the fields as of last week. The U.S. Agriculture Department had forecasted 2009 U.S. corn production at 12.921 billion bushels, second only to the record harvest of 13.038 billion bushels in 2007.

Forecasters report that the cold weather is unlikely to hamper movement of livestock and the snow will boost winter wheat crop.