Kay Harris
The Valdosta Daily Times
Valdosta — In the “old” days, just a few short decades ago, if someone wanted to eat tomatoes in the winter months, they canned them in the summer.
Although many still do their own canning, it’s more common today to go to the store to get your vegetables as crops are rotated in different parts of the country to ensure that fresh produce is available year round.
Customers rarely hear the words “it’s out of season” anymore.
However, in recent years, the late winter/early spring has seen a decrease in the availability of many of these vegetables due to extreme winter weather conditions, and this year may be the worst yet.
Signs posted in local fast-food restaurants are alerting customers to a tomato shortage and in a number of restaurants, customers are paying more to get a tomato on their burger or in their salad. Tomatoes are available, but they’re expensive due to the harsh winter weather that reached south Florida where many winter vegetables are grown.
Rex Ethridge Jr. of Farmer Browns said, “We have all the vegetables we usually do, but they’re more expensive this year than they were last year, and last year they were pretty high.”
Ethridge said the tomato crop in south Florida was devastated this year, and estimates are that more than 70 percent of the crop was affected by the freezing, rainy weather.
“A lot of schools and restaurants have stopped buying tomatoes this year. Last year, they got up to about $35 a box, and this year, they’re at $46 and, by Sunday, they’ll probably be $49 to $50 a box,” he said last week.
Tomatoes aren’t the only vegetable affected this year, as there is also a shortage of squash, cucumbers and bell peppers, causing the prices to be higher as well.
Ethridge said they aren’t sure yet how the spring crops are going to do as they usually come from California and Mexico, but “we’ve already been told they’ve been hit hard, too.”
Calvin Willis, Lowndes County extension agent, said area farmers are in a tough position this year also, as the abnormally cold and wet weather has delayed planting by more than three weeks now.
“If they can’t get their crops in the ground by the first of April, we will be looking at a total loss for the year.”
Willis said farmers still have two to three weeks until then, but are already looking at a reduced income at best. The weather has affected the planting of tomatoes and all varieties of peppers and beans.
“The ground is too wet. The soil is so saturated, they can’t do the chemical fumigation and with rain every three or four days, there are a lot of concerns this year about being able to protect the crops from diseases once they do plant them.”
If the crop goes in the ground much later, farmers here are in competition with farmers in other states, which may mean cheaper prices for consumers, he said, but making it much harder on the growers.
