The resulting higher prices for citrus and transportation means less fruit rich in nutrients. While the protein donations means an adequate supply of meat for the near future, a freeze in California last winter destroyed 6 million pounds of fresh citrus that usually makes it to food banks nationwide. Workers scraped together the cash through serving sack lunches at banks, walking tacos at area businesses and lunch at Covenant Medical Center. The Salvation Army will use the extra cash to...

Even the strawberry growers who have already covered their crop need to pay attention to the falling temperatures, Poling said in his e-mail messages. With temperatures expected to drop into the freezing range this weekend, local growers need to bundle up their already-planted strawberries and wait on planting anymore corn, experts said Friday. Otherwise, smaller growers and homeowners with gardens can use crop covers, straw, mulch - even newspapers - to help protect plants from the cold,...

The arctic blast that came through the Tennessee Valley over the weekend left a trail of damage that will cost area growers and the local economy millions of dollars. Two successive mornings of below-freezing temperatures made it virtually impossible for area fruit growers to do anything but hope for the best, Morgan County extension agent Mike Reeves said. Easter freeze kills area fruit crop: Agent calls it 'a regional disaster'; only 'a few strawberries' survive. Reeves said strawberry...

Florida's Orange-Juice Yield Rises as USDA Cuts Crop Outlook on Hurricanes 4/10/2007 11:40:00 AM ETRelated symbols: KO PEP Bloomberg Florida's Orange-Juice Yield Rises as Box Count Cut (Update1) By Shruti Date Singh April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Florida will produce more orange juice than previously forecast, even with a smaller crop, because of a higher yield from each box, the U. Florida's Orange-Juice Yield Rises as USDA Cuts Crop Outlook on Hurricanes 4/10/2007 11:40:00 AM ETRelated symbols:...

Fruit and vegetable growers using frost protection will have to wait until the sun comes out to find out if they were able to save any of their crops. Frank Funderburk, an agricultural extension agent in Peach County, the heart of Georgia's peach-growing region, says fruit has shriveled and leaves are turning black. Pecan trees in southeast Georgia that looked to be setting up for a good crop were damaged by the freeze and frost, but growers won t know to what extent until later. Irvin...

New Zealand apple growers are appealing directly to the senior bureaucrat in Canberra who will decide whether they can export their fruit to Australia. The New Zealanders say that in the absence of any other explanation they can only assume the department head is now using the same delaying tactics that Australian apple growers have used to keep imported apples out since 1921. The growers say they cannot start work on the standard operating procedures and protocols for the trade until the...