During the Florida Farm Bureau Federation (FFBF) and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Town Hall last week concerning COVID-19 and its effects on Florida agriculture, one issued discussed was how fresh produce growers were having difficultly moving their products. But foreign produce continues to be prevalent in stores. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said this is something they work on every day.
For more information go to the FDACS website . To hear more comments made during the Town Hall event, click here.
A watermelon sits among leaves in a watermelon field. Photo taken on 05-10-17. Photo credit: Camila Guillen, UF/IFAS
By Clint Thompson
The watermelon season in Florida has already soured and a huge chunk of the state’s crop has yet to be harvested.
Prices for South Florida watermelons started at a robust 40 cents per pound but have since dropped to 12 cents amidst a deflated market during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to Mark Warren, University of Florida/IFAS Extension agent in Levy County.
He is worried about the farmers in the Levy County, Gilchrist County area where 20% of the state’s crop or approximately 5,000 acres are produced, and where harvest season is approximately a month away.
“They’re optimistically hoping that things are going to turn around, but in all honesty, I’d have a hard time continuing investing in the crop. I’m not telling them that,” Warren said. “But if we’re eight weeks leading up to the (COVID-19) ‘peak’ and there’s eight weeks on the back side of it where we’re coming down off the ‘peak,’ by then our melon season is over.”
Unfortunately, farmers were already committed into producing this year’s crop before the coronavirus was even a concern.
“So much of that investment is already made on the front end. By the time you do land, rent, land prep and fertilization, they buy their seed, contract with a transplant producer in the greenhouse, so much is invested at the front end there wasn’t any difference than to just go ahead,” Warren said.
Florida is the No. 1 producer of watermelons in the country. But interest in watermelons has dropped dramatically as restaurants have been forced to close and unemployment has skyrocketed.
“I was talking to one of our farmers (Tuesday) and he said this is a non-essential item. (He said), ‘If I had to make a decision between bread and eggs and watermelon, you can just about bet, I’d leave the watermelon sitting there,’” Warren said. “They recognize that’s where they are on the food chain as a non-essential.”
He added that watermelon sales that normally shipped out 20 loads per day has dropped to four.
Warren said they are exploring the possibility of teaming up with a farm to school program or even the (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) SNAP program, to see if there’s a way to get fresh produce included as an alternate way to move the product out of the area. But even that would not be a complete problem solver.
“One of our farmers could probably meet all of the demands of the food stamp and the school program,” Warren said.
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) hemp program is seeking 20 qualified partners across Florida for on-farm trials.
Pictured is a field of hemp.
Zack Brym, agronomist at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead and research coordinator of the UF/IFAS Industrial Hemp Pilot Project, says partner farms will conduct a coordinated field planting on 2 acres with variations in land preparation. In addition, partners will have the option to submit a plan for industry development research on an additional 3 acres.
Applications are due at 11:59 p.m. on April 13, 2020. Growers can apply here.
“Applications will only be accepted through the online form up to the deadline,” notes Brym. “You must complete the application in one session. You can advance through the form without answering the questions (after answering question 1) to review the application questions before completing submission.”
Submitted by Gene McAvoy, Regional Vegetable Extension Agent IV Emeritus with UF/IFAS
“Up to the end of Feb our growers were having a banner year and it looked like this season would be one of those homeruns that come around every 5-6 years.”
Here is a report that I prepared on the state of S Florida ag and shared with officials. (Long read but may shed some light on how COVID-19 is impacting agriculture in our area.)
Markets
On Tuesday, March 24, a local broker says, everything changed. From brokers, orders stopped and everything got quiet. On Wednesday, March 25, it got super quiet.
Since then tomato volumes are down 85%, green beans are like 50% and cabbage is like 50%.
R.C. Hatton has plowed under 100 acres of green beans, around 2 million pounds, and 60 acres of cabbage, or 5 million pounds.
Florida’s tomato growers target 80% of their production to restaurants and other food service companies, rather than to supermarkets. In this sector, growers are walking away from big portions of their crop.
Tony DiMare estimates that by the end of the growing season, about 10 million pounds of his tomatoes will go unpicked.
Some crops like potatoes and oranges are faring well, whileother produce isn’t selling like it used to.
With a lot of people staying home and buying mostly comfort foods, products like peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers have actually slowed down incrementally,” said Chuck Weisinger, president of Weis-Buy Farms, Inc.
“The biggest challenge we have right now is getting the stores to start buying,” said John Stanford, farm manager at Frey Farms.
As you know. produce is highly perishable and three weeks into this, many companies around Immokalee, Florida have already had to empty their coolers and dump produce. One dumped 20,000 pounds a day last week, let that sink in… 20,000 pounds of tomatoes a day. They dumped a total of 100,000 pounds so far. This is from one farm.
Three weeks in, most farms have exercised triage dumping and emptying coolers and are terminating fields for which they have no foreseeable markets. They are concentrating on maintaining fields that they still have demand for, unfortunately, depending on the crop – this is only 20-50% of the total planted.
Impacts on Ranchers
The cash market and futures prices are lower than anyone can remember. One local rancher sold calves this week and averaged $250 per head at the Arcadia auction barn. A few weeks ago he would have received $450 per head average, and that constitutes below breakeven.
In normal times, strategy would be to hold calves until the crisis is over, and hope prices will take an upswing. But there is huge uncertainty about how long this will last. A major compounding problem is the dry conditions, and lack of reserve forage. These weather patterns would normally dictate early weaning of calves. Hay costs, when available, and low market prices are a formula for hardship.
The extended impact on ranchers will be the cows not breeding back on schedule. Holding calves longer in hot and dry conditions puts a strain on a cow’s reproductive system. This has been well-documented by University of Florida researchers.
Many growers are exploring alternative methods of moving product.
Sam S. Accursio and Sons Farms’ in Homestead packing house opened direct sales to consumers, selling boxes at $10 in each of the past two weekends. They had cars stretched for half a mile in front of the packing house and were able to move 120,000 pounds of Redland-raised squash, tomatoes, beans and cukes. They also partnered with a farmer out of Mount Dora, Florida who had 30,000 flats of unsold blueberries and sold these at 12 pints for $20. Similar efforts were conducted by Alderman Farms in Bonita Beach, Florida, Farmers Alliance in Immokalee and others.
Martin County, Florida opened a pop-up drive-thru market that saw 500 cars in one day. Traditional commercial farms in South Florida have been overwhelmed by the support for the sales at their packinghouses – all fruit that would have otherwise gone unsold if waiting on traditional markets to purchase.
Growers are still concerned that a large amount of produce seen in the supermarket comes from Mexico.
According to Bill Braswell, since March 1, the start of the Florida blueberry season, Florida has produced 6.1 million pounds through last Thursday April 2. In that same time period, Mexico has imported 17.4 million pounds into the U.S., according to a USDA report. Mexico market price is $12 for a 6-ounce flat delivered to Chicago which translates to $2.60 per pound.
Labor
Growers are taking aggressive steps to protect workers from COVID-19, including keeping truckers separate from on-farm labor.
They have been taking advantage of training resources and posters supplied by IFAS Extension and others.
Agents have also shared information on essential services exemption and supplying growers with template essential services exemption letters to facilitate movement of their essential staff and labor.
Labor shortages – reports indicate that COVID-19 has delayed the U.S. government’s processing of H-2A work visas. This will impact growers in central and north Florida and up the coast.
Food banks
Last week, growers in Immokalee alone donated more than 3 million pounds of vegetables to Harry Chapin food bank, overwhelming their ability to store, transport and distribute the produce – they had to call a halt.
Farm Share, which partners with more than 2,000 food pantries, churches, schools and other nonprofits throughout Florida, is running at maximum capacity, despite having 25 refrigerated trucks, six warehouses of between 10,000 to 35,000 square feet and 40 to 50 drop sites from Jacksonville, Florida to Florida City, Florida. They usually help more than seven million pounds of food reach the hungry and now are faced with moving a lot more.
Over the past two weeks, Wish Farms has donated 220,000 pounds of fresh strawberries — equivalent to 241 pallets or nine semi-trailer loads — to feeding Tampa Bay.
Growers are having a tough time adapting because everything is happening so quick. Faced with a highly perishable product, growers are struggling to survive right now, with picking, packing and shipping everything that they can. Because of the coronavirus, things have changed. Buyers are demanding tight security, heavier sanitation, distancing and more.
We have heard many ideas and suggestions from the public and even local officials – what many people fail to realize is that picking, packing, cooling, storing and transporting vegetables costs money, and growers who have already lost millions of dollars are understandably reluctant to throw good money after bad. It also costs money to maintain fields with no hope of sales in sight. Growers are disking up fields and maintaining just what they feel they have markets for. Unfortunately, this is only about 20% to 30% of the total acreage. Each acre of tomatoes costs $10,000 to $12,000 to grow and $5,000 to $6,000 to pick and pack. Unmaintained fields rapidly succumb to pests and diseases and soon become a breeding ground threatening the health of nearby fields that growers are trying to save for their remaining markets.
It is not only veggies, as of yesterday about 7.7 pounds of milk has been dumped by one Central Florida co-op (there are a few in Florida). Milk is sold by the pound so that is 900,000 gallons.
While I don’t have the exact amount from the other co-op I would expect their numbers to match ours in north Central Florida and South Georgia. Unfortunately, we can easily say that 10 million pounds of milk has been dumped throughout Florida.
There are efforts to help farmers all over our state. In the dairy industry, there is a grassroots group of passionate producers, processors, promotion people, school representatives and Extension agents trying to get more milk moving. This group includes people from Florida and Georgia, that in normal times might view each other as the competition (different co-ops and different promotion boards). These efforts range from delivering school lunches, buying and delivering milk to food banks and those in need; contacting schools to increase their milk in each meal, contacting legislators to allow whole milk in school lunches (we need help with this), and asking stores to stop limiting the purchase of milk.
People really have no concept of the amount of food we are taking about – Immokalee alone ships approximately 400 to 500 semis of vegetables a day from March through mid-May. This is 15,750,000 pounds of vegetables headed to market every day. Add to this Belle Glade, Palm Beach Co, Homestead and the amounts are staggering. I know of one grower in Belle Glade who is disking up 1 million pounds of green beans every three days.
South Florida vegetable growers supply more than 150 million people in the eastern U.S., from Miami to Chicago, from late October to mid-May.
Here is a resource a producer may be interested in sharing – this is a clearing house for finding food – donating food etc.
(UF/IFAS) — As fruit and vegetable farmers in South Florida decide what to do with produce once destined for now-closed schools and restaurants, watermelon farmers in North Florida have recently finished planting their crop.
Given the uncertainty around the market for fresh produce, the decision to plant came down to economics, said Mark Warren, agriculture agent for UF/IFAS Extension Levy County.
“For many, this crop represents a large portion of their annual income, and they have already invested in land rent, tillage, fertilizer, seed, transplant costs, irrigation and plastic mulch,” Warren said.
Watermelons are an important part of the economy in Levy and surrounding counties. According to the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, Levy County has the largest acreage of watermelons in the state, with Gilchrist a close second. More than 20% of the state’s watermelon crop is produced in these two counties.
Florida itself is the No. 1 producer of watermelons in the United States. But as the coronavirus pandemic creates a new normal across the country, it’s unclear whether stores and consumers will be buying this favorite summertime treat when the watermelons are ready for harvest in May and June.
Blair Beauchamp says life on his Levy County farm hasn’t changed much since the pandemic, but the uncertainty of the situation has touched him just like everyone else.
“Farming is still farming—you’ve got to look after your crops, feed the cattle. But whether you’re talking about watermelons, beef or the stock market, it’s all uncertain and everyone is nervous,” said Beauchamp, a fifth-generation farmer who grows about 145 acres of watermelon each year and ranches cattle, as well. He manages the watermelon operation with Aaron Lane.
Beauchamp sells his watermelon through a broker, who distributes his product to supermarkets in the northeastern United States. With a warm March in North Florida, the watermelon crop will likely be ready for harvest in early May, about two weeks earlier than usual, he said.
“I hope by then the situation with the market for fresh produce is clearer,” he said.
Until then, Warren and Bob Hochmuth, assistant director of the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center – Suwannee Valley, and other county Extension agents in the region are advising watermelon producers through group text or email messages on disease issues, irrigation and fertilizer recommendations to help ensure the success of their crop.
In addition, farmers can share photographs via their mobile device with their Extension agents to get an early start on diagnosis. “We just have to be more creative and use technology more to help our growers,” Hochmuth said
“Watermelons are a short season and potentially temperamental crop that requires a close eye and timely decisions,” Warren said. “A small disease or pest issue discovered this morning can reach destructive levels in a matter of hours. Farmers require dependable analytical support from IFAS soil and plant diagnostic labs to correctly make these kinds of timely decisions, which is why those labs are still operating and receiving samples by mail.”
For now, this year’s watermelon crops appear to have few disease or pest issues, Hochmuth said.
While social distancing has meant Extension agents are working with farmers in different ways than they usually do, Beauchamp said he’s glad to still have UF/IFAS as a resources for his business.
“My hat’s off to them for all they’ve done to stay in communication and serve us as the situation and safety allows,” he said.
Consumers can help Florida farmers affected by the uncertainty brought on by COVID-19, Warren said.
“Even if we do everything we can to produce a crop, success for our farmers doesn’t happen until the crop is sold and delivered. Consumers can help farmers in these uncertain times by asking for and buying Florida-grown produce,” Warren said.
The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA) wants to help farmers sell their crops while provide consumers with options on where to buy fresh, local produce. In doing so, consumers will support an industry that’s been decimated amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Farmers and farming operations are asked to email information@ffva.com as soon as possible with the following information: Company name; address of sales location; phone number; facebook page; twitter; produce available for sale and sales hour.
The FFVA will share on social media and on its website.
“We’ve been hearing about different growers in south Florida who, for lack of any other options, have begun boxing up their produce and making it available directly to consumers who can just drive up and purchase it,” said Lisa Lochridge, director of the association’s Public Affairs Division. “We kept hearing about different farms doing this and decided to try to gather that information as best we could, put it on our website and also share those opportunities on social media so people who are following us on social media would know that there’s a grower in their area where they can go and get fresh local produce.”
Florida growers are forced to sell directly to the public to move their produce, as restaurants are closed nationwide. This is a great way to support local farmers who are struggling to sell their usual quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables.
“It’s certainly not the way they would like to be distributing their product but given the fact that the food service part of the supply chain has literally shut down, this is a good option for growers. It drives home the importance of local produce,” Lochridge said. “I think it also makes it more top of mind for consumers to know that there’s fresh, local, nutritious produce available to them. Hopefully, when all of this is over and people are back in the grocery store and produce aisles, they will look for Florida produce.”
(HCCGA) — FDACS has created the attached form for producers to fill out with their product availability. Once submitted, FDACS will utilize to forward to their Fresh From Florida contacts, as well as the Florida Department of Corrections, food banks and make connections with other State Departments of Agriculture in hopes of providing market opportunities to move product during the Coronavirus pandemic.
One of the largest produce farmers in the Southeast has already lost quite a bit of his spring crop and fears what the future might hold amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Cabbage growing in a field.
“We’ve left about 2 million pounds of green beans already (in the field) and about 5 million pounds of cabbage,” said Paul Allen, president of R.C. Hatton Farms in Belle Glade, Florida and chairman of the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. “Hopefully the (government is) going to help us some. They’ve done a good job and allocated money to help specialty crops. We’re going to need it. Here we are harvesting in Florida but we’re planting in Georgia. We don’t know what that’s going to look like.”
R.C. Hatton Farms produces 12,000 acres of vegetables and specialty crops, including sweet corn, green beans, cabbage, sugar cane and corn silage. While most crops are produced throughout Florida, some are grown in Poulan, Georgia, which is in Worth County.
Like other fruit and vegetable farmers in Florida, Allen’s spring crop was dealt a devastating blow when restaurants closed across the country and took away a substantial amount of business following concerns of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The food service sector of our business has really taken a hit. A lot of our crops we grow, especially our beans and cabbage, we grow specifically for food service because it’s about 50% of that market. It’s been shut down,” Allen said. “The supermarkets can’t absorb that much. They can absorb some of it but just not that much.”
It’s been nearly a month since the country was turned upside down, and agriculture has been one of the sectors impacted the most. Like many other farmers, Allen didn’t see this coming at all.
“Nobody’s ever dealt with this before so how would you know? We had no idea. Hopefully it’ll get turned around. We’ll see,” Allen said. “We’re dependent on all supermarkets to buy hopefully, 100% US-grown products. If we can get 100% support, that’ll go a long way.”
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), an integral part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, that will aid small businesses recover amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, may not have sufficient funds to support the $350 billion allocated for the program.
One United States Congressman insists, though, that additional funds will be ready if needed.
“There’s going to be a Phase 4 (coronavirus aid package). I am more certain now that there is going to be a phase 4,” said Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), who represents Georgia’s 1st District in the House of Representatives. “The short answer is, if we need more money, we’re going to allocate more money.”
The program was designed to prevent workers from being laid off and small businesses from going out of business during a global pandemic that has halted the world’s economy. Those farmers or businesses, who qualify for the program, need to apply as soon as possible.
“We intentionally made it somewhat ‘loose’ if you will, somewhat loose in that we wanted the agencies to be able to get this money out as quickly as possible. Therefore, we left a lot of the rules and regulations up to the agencies. There’s been some bumps in the road and that’s to be expected. But we intentionally did that because the message we sent to the agencies was, you need to get this money out as soon as possible,” Carter said. “We’re not going to burden you with rules and regulations and then ask you to get out as quickly as possible.”
Carter said small businesses make up 99% of the businesses in America.
“What we wanted to do was make sure we maintained the employee-employer relationship. That’s very important, particularly for our farmers, particularly for our small businesses. You’ll be able to get up to two and a half times your average monthly payroll,” Carter said. “That is very important because, again, we want you to maintain that relationship with your employee.
“We don’t want to hear about people being separated from their businesses. That’s vitally important.”
He emphasized that the applicant can be forgiven, if 75% is used for payroll,
“Therefore, this PPP loan actually turns into a grant. That is very important because we wanted to make sure we get the relief out there,” Carter said.
A tractor and trailer harvesting potatoes in Hastings, Florida. Photo taken 06/03/15.
By Clint Thompson
Farmers need to beef up their security amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Gene McAvoy, Associate Director for Stakeholder Relations for the University of Florida IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center.
As unemployment continues to skyrocket across the country, this often leads to an increase in theft instances. McAvoy said farmers are vulnerable right now since fewer people and eyes are on the farm.
“When we were back in the recession era in the middle part of 2008, 2009, we saw a big up-take in unemployment. People are hungry. If you grab a box of chemicals on a farm or grab a couple of boxes of chemicals … that stuff is worth $400, $500 a jug sometimes,” McAvoy said. “You can grab three or four boxes and run. You’ve got some money to earn. Then they’ll turn around and sell it to unscrupulous buyers looking for a deal.”
He’s already received reports of a couple of animals being slaughtered, 16 head of cows stolen and equipment taken in two other instances.
McAvoy stresses to producers to take extra precautions during these desperate times.
“Mark equipment in a place that’s not readily visible. If you lose a tractor or a disc or whatever, you have markings on it. So if the sheriff gets it or you see it, you can identify it,” McAvoy said. “Up your security. Make sure you’re checking your gates. Don’t keep a lot of inventory on hand. As I said, especially chemicals, you grab four gallons of certain products, you’re looking at close to a thousand bucks or more in one box. Just get it on an add-needed basis is a big help.
“Camera systems are really cheap these days. You can get, for a few hundred dollars, wireless cameras that you can put around your strategic areas, your entrance gates, your spray shed, your office, your equipment barn. Oftentimes, they can be programmed to send alerts to your cell phone.”
