Business Notes: $ Agriculture Winter Scars on Florida

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The effects of last week's cold snap quickly abated in much of the U.S., but Florida's citrus growers may never be the same. The freeze was the worst in history for the state's orange and grapefruit industry. Temperatures that dropped to the low teens destroyed as much as 40% of this year's crop. Coming on top of a $1 billion freeze in late 1983 and the citrus-canker epidemic in 1984, the icy blast destroyed the last hopes of some farmers in north-central Florida that they could survive in the business. Crops are smaller for as long as ten years after a freeze because farmers must drastically prune back the damaged trees or replace them with saplings. "We're in this to make a living, and you just can't keep pouring money in," said John Kennedy, a grower near Umatilla. "There has to be a stopping time, and I think this is it."

Prices for fresh fruit will increase, but the cost of orange juice to U.S. consumers is not likely to rise much. Reason: most of it is made from concentrate imported from Brazil. The cold snap will affect fresh vegetable prices as well. About 60% of Florida's tomato crop was destroyed, and many fields of beans and squash were left brown and lifeless.