Nearly a week of freezing temperatures caused widespread damage for Texas citrus, possibly into next season.
As much as 55 percent of grapefruit froze on the tree, and nearly all of the late season Valencia orange crop was lost, according to reports from Texas Citrus Mutual, Mission. Estimates put those losses at more than $300 million.
Growers worked as fast as possible to get fruit harvested before the storm, said April Flowers, marketing director for Lone Star Citrus Growers, Mission BB #:205246.
“We are fortunate in that we only had about 15 percent of our crop still on the trees,” she said.
What was left on the tree was being harvested as fast as possible to get it to the juice processing plant.
Some areas had significant bloom on trees, which will affect volumes next year.
“As far as the trees go, we are optimistic that they are ok, but we’ll know more over the next several weeks as to what we can expect for next season,” she said. “Before we can estimate the extent of the damage or the size of next season’s crop, we need to see how much defoliation occurs and how the trees react to their first opportunity to flush.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott requested a USDA disaster designation for Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties in response to severe winter weather that has impacted the state, and estimated more than $305 million losses in citrus.
