Florida expects good winter crop despite Southeast drought
Florida expects good winter crop despite Southeast drought
Hardly a day passes without a major network or newspaper reporting on the severe drought occurring in the southeastern United States. The Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services is concerned that viewers and readers -- those in the produce industry included -- might be getting the impression that Florida will not have crops to feed the nation.
"The media should not be sending out messages that cause concern until they have their facts straight," said Liz Compton, spokesperson for the department. "Citrus is doing very well, even in north Florida where it has been very dry."
The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Southeast region as stretching from North Carolina south to all of Florida, and from Alabama east to the coastline. The implication that a drought is causing agriculture havoc in this entire area is simply wrong, Ms. Compton said.
"These kind of messages could promote foreign imports and have produce buyers looking over their shoulders to sources other than Florida for their winter and spring supplies," she said. "In Florida currently, there is every sign that growers will have healthy supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables."
Dan Sleep, supervisor and senior analyst for the division of marketing at FDACS, said there is no doubt that water is tight in the state, but that does not translate to doom and gloom for the Florida produce industry.
"Florida has been in drought for some 21 months, and farmers are doing what they can to continue operations," said Mr. Sleep. "They are a resilient group, and in many cases they have been farming for multiple generations. They know what they're doing, and they have processes in place to do whatever possible to ensure healthy crops."
The severity of the drought in south Florida has to do with the water levels in Lake Okeechobee, which feeds water through its spider web of canals to the west and south. On Oct. 31, lake levels were at 10.33 feet, but minimum desired levels this time of year are 14 feet.
"Water management officials can pump down to 7.5 feet, but that can create a serious problem, especially this time of year," said Mr. Sleep. "It typically experiences several inches of evaporation from November through January and February. Unless we get consistent rainfall in the right areas of the state that feed the lake, we could be in a more critical position early next year. We need rain gains every day to build the lake to the levels we like. Also, when the lake drops severely, levels of phosphates and nitrates can increase, but the water is by no way polluted at this point."
Florida officials hoped to have typical rainfall conditions throughout the past summer, but it fell short. Floridians use 6.5 billion gallons of fresh water daily. Agriculture currently utilizes about 43 percent of that daily use, and the public uses around 37 percent. About 280 different foods are produced in Florida each year, with the dominant products including tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet corn, squashes and melons. But produce acreage has diminished somewhat over the past few years.
"Some growers have increased their yields, however," said Mr. Sleep. In 1997, growers harvested 196 thousand acres. In 2006, that figure dropped to 168,000. But some commodity yields have not changed, and others have increased."
Some produce professionals, especially growers, would not have thought of a tropical storm or hurricane threat to be good news. But Tropical Storm Noel that was dropping moisture over the southeast coast of Florida at the beginning of November was good news.
"We have been getting some rain in the past few weeks, and we think the storm will bring some more," Mr. Sleep said Oct. 31. "We hope the lake level will increase to 10.5 feet by the end of the first week of November. That's good, but not good enough to create a safety factor. But it is not a doomsday scenario either. It's just a least advantageous position as we are going into November."
Growers are planting, and some are already harvesting early crops in the state. Mr. Sleep said indications are that the early crop volumes and quality will be decent. It is next year, from January through March, that officials are most concerned about at this point.
The floral industry has taken a hard hit in Florida, but the reasons can be a combination of fuel price increases, labor issues and other challenges, including weather.
The 2006 floral industry in the state dropped from the previous year by $150 million in cash receipts, Mr. Sleep said. "That figure followed several years of increases. In 2003, the category reported $830 million. In 2004, it was at $984 million. The 2005 figure was $956 million. If they had a good year in 2006, they would have gone over $100 million. It is reasonable to believe that the drop last year has much to do with the drought."
Despite the water shortage -- or any other challenges Florida growers face -- the FDACS, under Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, continues to expand its Fresh From Florida campaign and move it forward.
"The department is promoting throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and the United Kingdom," said Mr. Sleep. "We are targeting 19 commodity groups in hundreds of stores. Last year, we ran 237,000 store ads on the campaign, and the plan is to increase it this season and in the future."
(For more on the Florida fall vegetable deal, see the Nov. 12 issue of The Produce News.)
"The media should not be sending out messages that cause concern until they have their facts straight," said Liz Compton, spokesperson for the department. "Citrus is doing very well, even in north Florida where it has been very dry."
The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Southeast region as stretching from North Carolina south to all of Florida, and from Alabama east to the coastline. The implication that a drought is causing agriculture havoc in this entire area is simply wrong, Ms. Compton said.
"These kind of messages could promote foreign imports and have produce buyers looking over their shoulders to sources other than Florida for their winter and spring supplies," she said. "In Florida currently, there is every sign that growers will have healthy supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables."
Dan Sleep, supervisor and senior analyst for the division of marketing at FDACS, said there is no doubt that water is tight in the state, but that does not translate to doom and gloom for the Florida produce industry.
"Florida has been in drought for some 21 months, and farmers are doing what they can to continue operations," said Mr. Sleep. "They are a resilient group, and in many cases they have been farming for multiple generations. They know what they're doing, and they have processes in place to do whatever possible to ensure healthy crops."
The severity of the drought in south Florida has to do with the water levels in Lake Okeechobee, which feeds water through its spider web of canals to the west and south. On Oct. 31, lake levels were at 10.33 feet, but minimum desired levels this time of year are 14 feet.
"Water management officials can pump down to 7.5 feet, but that can create a serious problem, especially this time of year," said Mr. Sleep. "It typically experiences several inches of evaporation from November through January and February. Unless we get consistent rainfall in the right areas of the state that feed the lake, we could be in a more critical position early next year. We need rain gains every day to build the lake to the levels we like. Also, when the lake drops severely, levels of phosphates and nitrates can increase, but the water is by no way polluted at this point."
Florida officials hoped to have typical rainfall conditions throughout the past summer, but it fell short. Floridians use 6.5 billion gallons of fresh water daily. Agriculture currently utilizes about 43 percent of that daily use, and the public uses around 37 percent. About 280 different foods are produced in Florida each year, with the dominant products including tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, sweet corn, squashes and melons. But produce acreage has diminished somewhat over the past few years.
"Some growers have increased their yields, however," said Mr. Sleep. In 1997, growers harvested 196 thousand acres. In 2006, that figure dropped to 168,000. But some commodity yields have not changed, and others have increased."
Some produce professionals, especially growers, would not have thought of a tropical storm or hurricane threat to be good news. But Tropical Storm Noel that was dropping moisture over the southeast coast of Florida at the beginning of November was good news.
"We have been getting some rain in the past few weeks, and we think the storm will bring some more," Mr. Sleep said Oct. 31. "We hope the lake level will increase to 10.5 feet by the end of the first week of November. That's good, but not good enough to create a safety factor. But it is not a doomsday scenario either. It's just a least advantageous position as we are going into November."
Growers are planting, and some are already harvesting early crops in the state. Mr. Sleep said indications are that the early crop volumes and quality will be decent. It is next year, from January through March, that officials are most concerned about at this point.
The floral industry has taken a hard hit in Florida, but the reasons can be a combination of fuel price increases, labor issues and other challenges, including weather.
The 2006 floral industry in the state dropped from the previous year by $150 million in cash receipts, Mr. Sleep said. "That figure followed several years of increases. In 2003, the category reported $830 million. In 2004, it was at $984 million. The 2005 figure was $956 million. If they had a good year in 2006, they would have gone over $100 million. It is reasonable to believe that the drop last year has much to do with the drought."
Despite the water shortage -- or any other challenges Florida growers face -- the FDACS, under Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, continues to expand its Fresh From Florida campaign and move it forward.
"The department is promoting throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and the United Kingdom," said Mr. Sleep. "We are targeting 19 commodity groups in hundreds of stores. Last year, we ran 237,000 store ads on the campaign, and the plan is to increase it this season and in the future."
(For more on the Florida fall vegetable deal, see the Nov. 12 issue of The Produce News.)
