Heat Also on Small Growers to Produce

By Susan Salisbury, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

Jan. 8–Think the big growers are the only ones feeling the heat as their winter vegetable production wilts under the unseasonably high temperatures?

Think again.

Nancy Roe, co-owner of Farming Systems Research Inc., west of Boynton Beach, says the warm weather is affecting the crops she sells to 400 members through subscriptions. They’re receiving more vegetables that can take the heat, such as peppers and tomatoes, and very little of those that prefer cooler weather.

“We are having a lot of problems with broccoli and our other cool-weather crops,” Roe said. “The heads are not nice and pretty. The flavor can sometimes not be as good.”

Meteorologists said December, with an average temperature of 73.1 degrees at Palm Beach International Airport, was 4.8 degrees above normal and the second-warmest December on record for Palm Beach County. The same goes for Stuart, Fort Pierce and Vero Beach, where December temperatures were approximately 5 to 7 degrees above normal.

The warm weather and resultant flooded market are bad news for growers, who are receiving $8 for a box of 42 to 45 jumbo green bell peppers.

For smaller operations such as Roe’s, it means frustration for those customers who have signed up for their weekly basket of lettuce and broccoli.

Bibb lettuce is “going to seed,” Roe said, which means it puts up a tall stalk that will flower, instead of making a head of lettuce. Insects are also reproducing more quickly, she said.

Roe is hoping for some more typical 60-degree temperatures at night.

“A few 70-degree nights are OK, but not every night,” Roe said.

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