Florida citrus takes a hit from Charley.

By Bob McClure

(Aug. 19) The initial numbers are high and they could get larger.

Preliminary figures released Aug. 18 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency estimate the damage caused by of Hurricane Charley will result in a 20% decrease in Florida’s citrus crop in 2004-05 or about $150 million in crop losses based on prices for the past two seasons.

Andy LaVigne, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, the state’s largest citrus grower organization, said the numbers reflect losses for fruit only and will increase once tree loss, replanting and structural damage costs are factored in.

Additionally, growers anticipate more fruit drop within the next few weeks that will further add to the figures.

Florida officials may not have a true handle on the losses until October when the first forecast for the season is released by the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service.

John Witzig, director of the Orlando-based group, said the agency began its annual fruit count in late July and would continue for another six weeks.

“In the areas that had damage, we’ll go back and recount it,” Witzig said. “It’s safe to say (the estimate) will be much less than what the state produced last year.”

Citrus production in Florida for the 2003-04 season was 291.7 million boxes, which was the most since 1997-98. About 5%, or 14.6 million boxes, went to the fresh market.

The Sunshine State’s citrus industry was heavily damaged Aug. 13 when the hurricane with winds as high as 145 mph moved on a northeast course across the state from Punta Gorda to Daytona Beach.

Charley’s track took it across citrus producing regions in DeSoto, Hardee and Polk counties, where citrus trees with young fruit were hit hard by the devastating winds. Damage consisted of dropped fruit and in some cases uprooted or severely damaged trees.

The three counties account for about 248,000, or 28%, of Florida’s 872,000 acres of citrus, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Electric service and telephone communications were still down in the region a week later, which slowed efforts to get accurate damage reports.

Jimmy Parker, owner of Parker Farms Inc., Bowling Green, Fla., grows citrus on 800 acres in Hardee County and said the damage would probably have a small effect on the overall market.

Polk County, the largest citrus producing area of the three counties affected, was hit hardest in the Haines City-Lake Wales area along U.S. 27. The region has more than 120,000 acres of citrus groves and about 104,000 acres are dedicated to oranges, according to the USDA.

TROPICAL FRUIT:

In addition to the central Florida citrus belt, Charley devastated tropical fruit production on Pine Island in Lee County.

Brooks Tropicals Inc., Homestead, took the heaviest loss among commercial growers when the hurricane’s Category 4 winds destroyed the company’s 100 acres of carambola.

“We’re out of the carambola business for about a six-month period,” said Craig Wheeling, chief executive officer. “The eye of the hurricane came about five to 10 miles away. We lost the crop and some of the wind screen protection. But we’ll be back.”

Wheeling said the damage was not a major hit for the company and estimated the loss at about $1 million.

VEGETABLES ESCAPE:

Because of the timing of the storm, Florida’s vegetable industry went unscathed. Most of the state’s fall crop had not been planted.

In areas south of where the storm made landfall, the damage was not as bad.

“We never had any problems, no nothing,” said Ronnie Johns, a salesman with Coastal Marketing Service Inc., a Fort Myers produce broker.

Chuck Weisinger, owner of broker Weis-Buy Farms Inc., Fort Myers, said his company is slowing getting back to normal after going four days without power and communications.

Weisinger said southwest Florida tomato growers escaped major damage and would be delayed no more than a week with their fall crop.

“Some of the first plantings in southwest Florida were in,” Weisinger said, “but most of it wasn’t in the ground yet.”

Parker Farms was the exception to the rule in Bowling Green, where 50 acres of tomatoes were destroyed and about 700 acres of plastic was blown away on land ready for planting.

“As far as we can tell there were a few tomatoes destroyed around here, but that’s it,” Parker said. “The big thing is the cost. With the plastic, methyl bromide and fertilizer it costs about $1,000 to $1,200 per acre to do it again.”

MOVING AHEAD:

A few miles to the south in Naples, Global Berry Farms LLC anticipated the arrival of the hurricane and transferred its computer to system to partner MBG Marketing/Michigan Blueberry Growers Association in Grand Junction, Mich., which allowed the company to continue taking orders while power was down in Collier County.

“It was a scenario we’ve been kind of planning for all along and it came off without a hitch,” said John Connor, director of information systems for GBF. “We had to take our system down about an hour Thursday night (Aug. 12) to transfer it and moved it back to Naples Sunday night. If we hadn’t planned for this and the system stayed in Naples, we would have been in trouble because the power was off for a few days.”

The counties hit by Charley were declared federal disaster areas by President Bush Aug. 15, making growers eligible for low-interest emergency loans.

In addition, payments may be available to growers with federal crop insurance and those covered by the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. According to the USDA, $2.5 billion in federal crop insurance is in place for the region.

Growers are advised to contact a local USDA Farm Service Agency service center or go to http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov for more information.