There’s been plenty of cold weather in Florida this winter, but the bottom line is it has mostly dodged the wrap of Mother Nature and any wide spread deadly freezes (knock on wood). But the cold has often meant Florida produce shipments being lighter than normal and later than normal for this time of the year.
Heaviest volume out of Florida is from the central and southern regions with tomatoes, which are averaging around 750 truck loads per week. There’s also a number of mixed vegetable items being shipped in light volume, but are behind normal shipping schedules.
An example is cabbage, which is available in areas from northern to southern Florida. The further north in the state cabbage is grown and shipped, the further behind it is in maturing and being harvested. One example is at Bunnell in nothern Florida where loadings are running a full month behind schedule. About four hours to the south in Central Florida the product is only a couple of weeks late. Cabbage is a big item for St. Patrick’s Day, which is March 17th.
Florida grapefruit shipments are down siginificantly this year, but more so from a disease called citrus greening than due to the weather. One major shipper is reporting pack out at only 50 to 60 percent of normal, when it would normally pack out at about 90 pecent.
Another item trailing is Florida strawberry shipments from the Plant City area.
Central Florida produce items – grossing about $2300 to Chicago.