Article: Florida Growers Lost Hundreds of Millions in Freeze
By: News Service of Florida – Jan 20th, 2010
Crop losses from this month’s extended freeze will cost Florida agriculture hundreds of millions of dollars and won’t be accurately discernible for several weeks, Florida agriculture officials told Senate lawmakers on Tuesday.
Briefing members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Liz Compton outlined a series of preliminary damage estimates for crop losses resulting from more than 10 days of freezing temperatures that extended as far south as Collier County.
“There are a lot of figures floating around but we want to make sure ours are accurate because these are ones that get sent to Washington,” Compton told the News Service on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist extended by seven days an emergency declaration that will allow growers to get their produce to market more quickly as they scurry to salvage what they can from the most damaging freeze in more than a decade.
To read the full article go to: https://www.jaxobserver.com/2010/01/20/florida-growers-lost-hundreds-of-millions-in-freeze/
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Congratulations to Charlie Christ for declaring the whole State, all Counties, a disaster area. We are an ornamental nursery, and all of our crops are black, we have had to lay off all our workers, and we don’t know where our next penny is coming from. This unprecedented cold spell of 14 days in Florida insured that the sap inside the palms, inside all the vegetation, would remain frozen and in several weeks will all turn brown, then cease to live. Don’t be fooled now, this deep cold has done irreversible damage to all of Florida, including hypothermia to the tropical fish. Let’s get Congress to declare emergency grants to all registered nurseries, farms and fisheries now! The banks aren’t loaning money, the USDA has too much red tape. If we can give the banks emergency TARP money, we can certainly give the Agriculture Industry of Florida emergency survival money! NOW! Not in three years.