Freeze reaches south Texas
Historic freezing temperatures in Texas in mid-February are expected to hurt yields for many crops, but Dante Galeazzi said it is too early to make any firm conclusions.
Galeazzi, president and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, said in a Feb. 16 morning e-mail that power outages are common in south Texas.
“This is the second night/day in a row where we’ve experienced freezing temperatures in McAllen/Edinburg area and the fourth night/day for Uvalde area,” Galeazzi said. “Thankfully, today is warming up faster than yesterday; however, we still experienced freezing temperatures for roughly twelve hours last night.”
Galeazzi said it may be a week or so before growers know the extent of the crop damage.
“Tender leafy greens like spinach, kale and celery will likely bear the worst of the cold’s effects and could be done for the season,” he said.
On the other hand, hardier items such as cabbage, onions and citrus could potentially survive, although growers do expect reductions in yields.
He said many of the sheds and facilities are without power so produce operators will be operating on emergency backup generators. Another night of cold weather is expected, he said Feb. 16.
“We are not out of the woods quite yet.”
