Florida citrus growers fear another freeze after statewide crop losses

Cold snap devastates Florida citrus industry

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports. 

POLK CITY Fla. - Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) toured an orange grove in Polk City that saw 40% of its crop take weather damage during a cold snap that hit the entire state last week.

"You can see that this particular piece of fruit froze solid," Jenny Cahoon, the owner of Ever After Farms, said. "That's all freeze damage, [this orange is] completely dried out and obviously no longer able to be eaten."

By the numbers:

Ever After Farms’ 17-acre orange crop was decimated by last week's hard freeze. They say 40% of what they were growing can’t be taken to market.

"It's very heartbreaking," Cahoon said. "But farmers are resilient. We didn't get six generations in for nothing."

READ: Florida citrus industry rebounds with new technology after years of decline

Cahoon gave a tour of the devastation Friday to Moody, who pointed out that 40 of the state's 67 counties are likely to be eligible for a disaster declaration, which could help them get federal loans or grants.

What they're saying:

"I wanted to get over here and talk through that with them because a lot of what [I've] been doing is talking to the USDA, talking to secretary, examining what I can do," Moody said.

For an industry that has already taken so many hits, from citrus greening to the weather, the need for aid grows each time there’s a frost, and there could be another Monday.

"[Outsiders] think of us as beaches and tourism," Moody said, "but agriculture is our number two driver of economics here in Florida."

Big picture view:

In the last 15 years, orange production in Florida has dropped 90%, mostly because of citrus greening.

Scientific advancements have helped slow the impact.

Cahoon says the health of her grove is solid, given the trees themselves seem to be healthy.

Now it's just a matter of getting help for what's been lost.

"I tease everyone and say the first person that complains about Florida heat, they're getting in trouble by me because I'm ready for it," Cahoon said. "We're ready for the cold to be gone."