Vegetable & Specialty Crop Farmers In Central Texas Bracing For The Worst; Most Expect Total Loss
Texas farmers harvested as much as they could before the historic storm that hit the state with a five-day deep freeze. What will be left after the freeze? "A black, gelatinized mess of dead plants," Green Gate Farm co-owner Erin Flynn said Friday.
Farmers won't know for a few days just how much of their winter crop died in the freeze this week, but most are expecting a total loss. "It is a dour situation," said David Barrow, who runs Eden East Farm in Bastrop. "We will have to wait until early next week to see full extent of damage, but is it devastating for all local farmers." On Tuesday, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller acknowledged that this weather and power crisis is worse than COVID-19 on the food supply chain.
Farms from Plano to Brownsville are facing a total loss of the last of their cold-weather crops, which still had several solid weeks of production before the spring season set in. Almost half of the Rio Grande Valley citrus harvest is considered lost to the freeze. Dairy farmers were dumping upwards of $8 million in milk a day during the worst of it.
Last March, the crisis was coronavirus-fueled demand exceeding agricultural supply. This month — and for the next four to six weeks at least — it's another nearly unprecedented demand for food with very little supply from farms across Texas. "Alliums (like garlic and onions) can survive slight frosts and root vegetables can survive harder freezes, but no vegetables like 6 degrees," Barrow said. It will take four to six weeks for farms to start to replace the lost crops.
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https://www.austin360.com/story/lifestyle/food/2021/02/20/texas-farmers-face-devastating-crop-losses-after-statewide-deep-freeze/4490154001/
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