Recent cold snap cripples tomato crops

Grocers, restaurants and consumers all rely heavily on Florida's extensive tomato crops during the cold weather months because it is typically one of only a few places in North America where it is warm enough to grow them.

That wasn't the case this winter.

As a result of the bitter temperatures from late December through the start of March, Florida vegetable farms were devastated.

Tomato production was slowed by 70 to 90 percent, according to the Economic Research Service.

The effects are being felt nationwide.

"Reduced production definitely makes fruits and vegetables less plentiful, which impacts price," said Stephanie Gambrell, an economist with the American Farm Bureau. "We're definitely seeing those price impacts. We're seeing them everywhere."

A 25-pound box of tomatoes from South Florida, for instance, is selling for $30. The regular price is more like $7, according to food economists.

"An unusually long period of freezing temperatures struck deep into Florida's winter vegetable growing areas ... reducing supplies and raising prices," wrote Gary and Lewrene Glaser, economists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a study published in late February. "During the winter, Florida accounts for 34 percent of the shipments of the top seven warm season vegetables."

Those vegetables include tomatoes, bell peppers, snap beans, cucumbers, sweet corn, squash and eggplant.

The study shows while Florida's supply was significantly lower the normal, shipments from Mexico partially offset the drop-off.

"We're in a pickle over tomatoes," said Rose Eschmann, a manager at Padula's Pizza in Spring Hill.

"We've only been putting a minimum amount of tomatoes in our orders because the prices have been astronomical and the quality has been poor," Eschmann continued. "We're hanging in there until things get better. I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later."

The impact of such a harsh winter has been dramatic for chain restaurants and other businesses that purchase tomatoes by the crate, but vegetables generally recover quickly, said Tom Spreen, a professor of food and resource economics at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

"Prices will spike temporarily, but they will replant," he said. "It might not be long before you start to see some supplies go back up, maybe as early as April ... assuming the weather corrects itself."