Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/06/2003736/florida-cold-snap-pushes-up-produce.html
Florida's cold snap shows up in produce aisle prices

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/06/106322/floridas-cold-snap-shows-up-in.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=news#ixzz1AKXzdpsG


Arching her eyebrows at prices along the produce aisle, Ilene Ellman
decided to alter her shopping routine.

Instead of buying fresh corn — four ears for $4.99 — she picked up a
$1.79 bag of frozen kernels. She also tore open a nearly 2-pound bag
of green beans, marked at $5.65, and scooped out half.

"I love fresh vegetables, but I draw the line at five bucks," said
Ellman outside a Publix grocery in Hollywood this week.

The Florida Department of Agriculture estimates that farmers lost $273
million during a string of December freezes — with the heaviest losses
in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, the state's two largest produce
producers. Now the cold spell is costing consumers.

"You have a freeze, you lose produce, prices are going to go up," said
Charles LaPradd, Miami-Dade's agricultural manager. "That's what
happened."

Market prices for sweet corn — among the hardest hit crops — have
doubled since before the freeze. Green beans, also hammered, have
tripled from cut-rate pre-holiday prices. Though prices vary from
store to store, yellow squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, bell peppers,
eggplants, and some lettuces also have jumped 25 percent or more.
Farmers and grocers expect them to continue to rise, though not as
steeply, over coming weeks until replanted crops or imports come in.

Brett Bergmann, co-owner of Pahokee-based Hugh H. Branch Inc., the
nation's largest distributor of sweet corn, told The Palm Beach Post
that the December freezes were unprecedented, claiming as much as 80
percent of the crop. That's reflected in skyrocketing wholesale prices
— with a 48-ear crate that earned farmers less than $8 at Thanksgiving
now going for $25 to $30.

"We've never seen anything like this," Bergmann said. "It has been a
huge blow. We would have had a consistent supply and a decent market
that would have been good for the farmer and the consumer.