SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - While South Floridians enjoy the colder weather, local farmers are doing all they can to ensure their crops are protected through a continuing drop in temperatures.
Phil Marraccini of the Dade County Farm Bureau said many farmers in Southwest Miami-Dade will keep a close eye on the thermometer as temperatures drop.
“This time of year, Florida becomes the bread basket for the United States. A majority of the beans in the United States are grown here. Squash is grown here,” said Marraccini. “I’ll be working around the clock.”
It was an early morning for farmers like Wesley Money of Alger Farms. He said that after Thursday’s drop in temperatures, he is in good shape, but now he has to make sure he will be OK for Friday.
“Everything has been watered, but it was only 44 degrees, so we shouldn’t have any problems on the corn,” Money said.
Friday may prove to be a tougher challenge as the National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory for parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties from midnight to 9 a.m.
“We’re just running all the pivots on the farm, running all of our water trucks — trying to cover all the ground we could cover before tomorrow morning,” said Money.
Temperatures are expected to be between 33 to 36 degrees, posing a danger to sensitive crops.
“We just hope that these plants, which are very green and healthy right now, will look like that at this time tomorrow,” said farmer Lynn Chaffin.
Chaffin laid down pipes to help bring the water to his tomatoes.
“Water acts as an insulator,” Chaffin said. “It coats the leaves, it coats the fruit and then in the morning, when the sun comes up, we keep the sprinklers running — it washes off that coat of ice.”
Experts said right next to people and animals, plants and crops are a huge concern for the weather. “Their cells can blow up and burn the leaves, and then get a lot of damage on the branches if it gets colder,” said plant nursery owner Julian Lara. “It’s not as tended to as far as water.”
However, the farmers said they will work on taking on the cold one day at a time.
“Tonight, same thing. We’re just running all the pivots on the farm, running all our water trucks, cover all the ground that we can cover before tomorrow morning,” Money said.
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