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Freeze
destroys much of By
Doug Ohlemeier
Burned
leaves are evident in this field of mature green tomatoes
south of Immokalee after repeated nights of subfreezing
temperatures.Grower-shippers warn buyers to expect
considerably smaller supplies and higher prices until south
Florida’s spring production begins. IMMOKALEE, Grower-shippers have
suspended pickings as the arctic temperatures damaged plants
and warn buyers to prepare for news of lots of damage,
shorter supplies and higher prices. Subfreezing temperatures
that struck south Some growers estimate up
to 60% of the tomato crop has been lost, including Plant
City-based Ag-Mart Produce Inc. Grower-shippers spent Jan.
13 updating their customers about what they should expect. “It’s going to be
rough,” one salesman said. Citing insufficient
supplies to establish a market, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture didn’t report Chuck Weisinger, president
and chief executive officer of broker Weis-Buy Farms Inc., Weisinger said he expects “Anything from Immokalee
north looks like it is just a done deal,” he said Jan. 13.
“I have a feeling that a lot of this that was grown by
some of the Weisinger said
temperatures in the Immokalee area fell to 27 degrees and
remained there for up to six hours during the early morning
hours of Jan. 11. It was so cold for so long that the frost
protection systems failed. Though he hadn’t talked
with Much of south Skip Jonas, field
compliance officer for the Florida Tomato Committee,
Maitland, said on Jan. 13 he thinks it would take several
days before the industry will have a full report of the
extent of the damage. After a
freeze, the fruit takes a while to show how much damage it
has received, he said.
Freeze warnings remained
in effect Tuesday morning, Jan. 5, for the state of According to the National
Weather Service, a "reinforcing shot of colder and
drier air pushing through the area will set the stage for a
threat of freezing temperatures late tonight and Wednesday
morning & for four to six hours & except for two to
four hours along the [western Florida] Treasure Coast.
Outlying areas south of Interstate 4 (which bisects the
state roughly east to west from Daytona to Forecast lows in the mid-
to high 20s would shatter existing records in areas
including Orlando and One Accuweather
agricultural meteorologist predicted temperatures in "I've never been
through something like this where it's [several] consecutive
days of sub-freezing temperatures," industry veteran
Sal Toscano of Plant City, FL, berry producer Sunny Ridge
Farms told The Produce News Jan. 4. "I'll tell you the
same thing I'm telling my bosses: I don't really know what
to expect, I don't know what's going to happen. No one does.
I know at best there's going to be a lot of water [sprayed
on plants in an attempt to hold temperatures at 32 degrees].
This thing looks like it's going to last to another four or
five days. Anything I tell you can be wrong in another 24
hours. How it's going to affect us long term I'm not sure.
I'm not sure I can remember a period where they were calling
for sub-freezing temps for this long, and there's another
front coming for the weekend. It's day to day." Exposed plant sets were
covered with layers of insulating plastic. Strawberry fields
were sprayed with water to encase berries in a protective
layer of ice. Meanwhile, citrus groves across the state were
enshrouded in a fog produced by misters spraying 68-degree
water in an effort to cloak the trees in a protective cloud.
But even the best
protective measures could prove in vain if "Anything that's open
to the air is going to be a problem," said Chuck
Weisinger of One Meanwhile, According to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, freezing temperatures were
recorded as far south as Lake Okeechobee and Citrus freezes at 28
degrees, strawberries can bear 26 degrees; more than four
hours of unprotected exposure at those temperatures results
in major damage. Also at risk are northern "Everybody's got
their pumps ready and working and getting ready to spray,
checking the Rainbirds," Mr. Toscano said. "We'll
have ice, let it melt, let the fields dry, go in and see
what we can [pick] day by day. I wouldn't even attempt to
predict what it's going to do before the [coming]
weekend." Wall Street was betting
that at least the The cold snap portends the
longest period of freezing weather in
FLORIDA
TOMATO PRICES REMAIN HIGH By Andy
Nelson The
Packer – November 18, 2009
Prices for
“Demand should remain extremely high,” said Chuck
Weisinger, president and chief executive officer of Fort
Myers-based broker Weis-Buy Farms Inc. “Supplies haven’t
jumped out and hit us in the face.”
Prices would likely remain very high at least through
the end of November, and possibly through the first week of
December, Weisinger said.
Pricing will likely stay about where it is “for the
next several weeks,” Bob Spencer, vice president and sales
manager of West Coast Tomato Inc., Palmetto, Fla., Said Nov.
18.
Yields won’t likely return to normal until
mid-December, Spencer said. Combined with that, shippers
were seeing more demand from the West Coast, where
Supplies the week of Nov. 16 were “almost
non-existent,” and prices would likely stay high at least
through the end of the month, predicted Tony DiMare, vice
president of Homestead, Fla. based DiMare Co.
The week of Nov. 16, Weisinger was seeing prices as
high as $31.95 for 25-pound boxes of extra-large greens,
with larges fetching $29.95 and mediums $27.95.
On Nov. 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
reported a prices of $25.95 for 25-pound cartons of 5x6
mature green tomatoes from
The mid-November prices were the highest Weisinger
has seen for mature green tomatoes in several years.
“And it’s not just round greens,” Weisinger
said, “Everything has suffered. Grapes and cherries are
really short, too. I wish there were more tomatoes to supply
the demand.” WISE
GUYS AT WEIS-BUY PREDICT HOLIDAY REBOUND By Chip
Carter The
Produce News – November 9, 2009
President Chuck Weisinger said there is “not a
lot” of squash or tomatoes in the early going due to heavy
early rains followed by unseasonably high heat. Most product
will have some systemic or surface damage, Mr. Weisinger
said, “This fall, nothing’s going to be perfect this
fall.”
Mr. Weisinger said that less product early is not
necessarily bad news. “Had we hit with product right now
we’d have some flat markets,” Mr. Weisinger said.
“There were no hurricanes, there was a decent weather in
Mr. Weisinger told The Produce News Oct. 22 he
expected increased demand to arrive along with increased
yields the first week of November. He said consumers have
become more cautious in their buying habits, but that after
months of gloomy economic forecasts, many are ready to stop
listening to bad news.
Since early spring, the Weis-Buy has seen clients
buying less product more often, a trend the company believes
will continue.
“In the
But, “We (Americans) have a different attitude now
– propel have been listening to gloom and doom so long
they’re just not listening any more,” Mr. Weisinger
said. That being the case, “I think you’re going to see
some increased buying by Thanksgiving,” he said. Market
rebound, “if it happens,” will being around Nov. 5 and
continue through Christmas.
Weis-Buy salesman Mark Weisinger agreed with his
brother. An increasingly “optimistic attitude could be the
accelerator for more demand,” he said. “I think
Americans are sick of negativity. I for one just walk away
from it.”
Even with a solid domestic market, Chuck Weisinger
said the produce industry said
“We need to market ourselves as Floridians, as
Americans, not only as providing local product, but also the
safest product in the world,” Chuck Weisinger said.
“We’ve got a product that will carry overseas. I think
the cheap dollar will help us abroad. I think we’re going
to be able to go into foreign markets more than before.”
That expansion cannot come at the expense of local
markets, he said. “We need to be selling
Added Weis-Buy salesman Mike Shapiro, “There’s a
different definition of fresh for a chef than for a
consumer. Chefs want produce that’s no more than two days
old. Chefs’ definition of freshness is very different from
consumers and marketers of produce.”
Said Chuck Weisinger, “The bottom line is, our
focus needs to be on local (and) American product that looks
good and tastes good, and we need to market ourselves as
being the safest produce in the world. That’s what it’s
all about – safety and flavor.” NEW FARM BILL LEGISLATION WEBSITE The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service has created a side by side comparison of key components of the 2008 Farm bill with previous legislation.. The site is accessed www.ers.usda.gov/farmbill/2008 This site allows a comparison of key provisions of the new bill with what the law specified before it was passed. CONSUMER SITE FOR FRUIT, AND VEGETABLE ORIGINS Consumers can now determine where 95 commonly found fresh fruits and vegetables found in their local supermarkets are grown. Users can also find out which states are the leading producers of various crops. The web site is: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/resources/fruitveg/fruitveg.php This tool was created by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State University. This information comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fruit and Vegetable Market News Service. IS ORGANIC FOOD WORTH IT? Is buying organic food the best thing for your health? Use this guide for tips on organic fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, grains and more. PROS and CONS of EATING ORGANIC While buying organic foods may seem like the right thing to do for your health, the environment and your family, sometimes it's difficult to justify the added expense. Plus, more food industry experts are starting to recommend choosing local foods over their organic counterparts, especially when it comes to foods where freshness really counts, like produce, dairy and meat. So what's a responsible, price-conscious consumer to do? Nutrition experts stress that while eating organic can be a smart way to reduce your exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, striving for a healthy diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and limits processed grains, animal fats, sugar and salt is a far more effective way to boost your health. WHAT DOES ORGANIC REALLY MEAN? Organic foods are produced with little or no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and are free of added antibiotics or hormones. In order to be called organic, a product must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture. Don't confuse "organic" with "natural" though. "There's no legal definition of a natural food," says Terrie Holewinski, RD, a cardiovascular dietitian at the University of Michigan Health System. "The food industry often uses the term 'natural' to mean minimally processed or preservative-free. So are certified organic foods better for you than conventional foods? "At this point, there is no scientific evidence that organic foods are healthier or safer than conventionally grown foods," says Holewinski. But it's hard to identify the long-term effects of the pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals that are found in so many of our foods. Do organic foods taste better? Some fans of organic say their food definitely tastes better. But the taste difference could be linked to other factors like the season and growing conditions. So when should you splurge on organic, and when is it safe to save your money? This guide to the food groups can help you decide. A GUIDE TO ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGGIES FRUITS AND VEGETABLES When it comes to fresh fruit and veggies, the best thing you can do is to eat more of them -- organic or not. "If you're not eating enough fruits and vegetables overall, then buying organic is like worrying about pennies but not dollars," says Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, RD, clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live and Disease-Proof your Child, agrees. "Pesticides are not the main factor in determining things like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The main factor is that the American diet gets less than 10 percent of calories from fresh fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. That said, "there is some justifiable concern that chemicals are potentially harmful," says Dr. Fuhrman, "but you don't have to eat completely organic. If you avoid the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, you can eliminate more that 90 percent of your pesticide exposure. BUY THESE ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:
IT'S OKAY TO BUY THESE NON-ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:
(Source for lists: Environmental Working Group www.foodnews.org ) If you can't afford to purchase organic, peel apples and potatoes and consider substituting less contaminated produce like kale or Swiss chard for more contaminated items like spinach. Also, whether you buy organic or not, make sure to wash produce thoroughly and remove the outer leaf of leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage. A GUIDE TO ORGANIC GRAIN, MEAT, DAIRY AND FISH GRAINS "Like the other food groups, if you have access to organic grains and can afford them, I believe organic is better than conventional and always for the same reason: You're exposing yourself to fewer environmental contaminants with organic," says Dr. Hobbs. Another plus: Most organic grain products are healthy whole grains. MEAT AND DAIRY When it comes to animal fats like meat and dairy products, you may want to consider going organic, but limiting your intake of animal fats overall is your healthiest move. "The higher-fat animal products are also those that deliver the most toxicity to us. I recommend that people eat fewer animal products and opt for lower-fat versions which are less contaminated and are probably better for us anyway," says Dr. Fuhrman. "For example, instead of foods like cheese and butter, get your fat from healthier sources such as nuts, seeds and avocados." Adds Dr. Hobbs, "If you can afford it, you're better off buying organic meat but at the same time, you should reduce the frequency of meats, regardless of whether they're organic of conventional. When eating meat, you can cut your chemical exposure by removing as much of the fat as you can since that's where chemicals are likely concentrated, says Holewinski. FISH Because the USDA doesn't certify fish, it's not usually identified as organic or non-organic. Some fish, like salmon, are identified as farm-raised or wild, and in this case wild is your best bet. Most food experts and nutritionists agree that wild fish are both better tasting and more nutritious because of their natural and varied diet. Many people are concerned about harmful mercury in fish, "All fish contain mercury but some more that others," says Dr. Fuhrman. The most contaminated varieties are tilefish, white snapper, shark, mackerel, swordfish and tune. The least contaminated: flounder, tilapia, sole and trout. It's best to limit your intake of contaminated fish varieties to one servig per week, less if you're pregnant or nursing. In the end, the decision to buy organic or not is a very personal choice, says Holewinski. One thing is for sure: Whether or not you opt for organic fare, packing your plate with fresh fruits and vegetables and lightening up on processed foods and animal fats is a smart way to give your health an boost. SIX STEPS TO SAFER FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
CHECK
CLEAN
SEPARATE
COOK
CHILL
THROW AWAY
This is the latest news affecting the produce industry. The entire staff at Weis-Buy wishes to bring this to the attention of our customers.
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