A week after Hurricane Hanna struck south Texas, the region’s fresh citrus industry has had the chance to evaluate the influence of the storm. There is a silver lining emerging from the many dark clouds of July 25-26.
“With major flooding in the area, information was slow to arrive, so preliminary estimates of fruit loss came in at 15- to 50 percent, depending on the area," said April Flowers, marketing director of Lone Star Citrus Growers in Mission, TX. "Now that we’ve been able to get into most of the groves, we are estimating a 20 percent crop loss across the production area.”
Flowers continued: “There is a silver lining, however, and that is that we have received significant rain at a key time in the growth cycle, allowing the remaining fruit the potential to size larger than expected. This could give us the opportunity to make up some of the lost tonnage by way of a better utilization rate.
“Additionally, we are happy to report that new plantings fared well, and flood waters in the producing orchards are receding at an appropriate rate, so we do not anticipate a second fruit drop, something that was of concern immediately following the storm.”
Thus, the anticipated bottom line is that “Hurricane Hanna will likely strengthen the market, even further, if the end result is fewer cartons overall with more volume on higher-priced, large size fruit.”
Flowers said California citrus shippers are expected to “be wrapping up in mid-September and we expect to begin light shipping in early October, hitting full stride in mid-November.”
A small gap between the California and Texas seasons “coupled with an increased demand for vitamin C rich products, should allow a strong opening market.”
Hurricane Hanna defied the early forecast predictions and turned south after making landfall, resulting in a direct hit on the upper Rio Grande Valley, she noted. “It’s safe to say that the winds were much higher than was originally forecasted.” She said local media indicated that the McAllen and Mission area had winds around 50 miles an hour.
Vegetable growers in south Texas were in a better position to quickly appraise the influence of Hurricane Hanna on their businesses.
“The hurricane was probably a good thing,” Tommy Hanka told The Produce News on July 26, which was morning after Hurricane Hanna passed through south Texas. Hanka reflected the comments of other vegetable growers, when he said the storm proved to be “really good for the soil. It flushes out the salt. Then, you get better crops.”
Frank Schuster, the family lead of Val Verde Vegetable Co. in McAllen also heralded the value of flushing salts from the soil.
“Crop-wise, we are just on the throes of starting to plant,” Schuster said. “This rain will do a good job of cooling off the ground temperature. We had a significant amount of rain in May which washed a lot of salt down off the fields. This will have the same affect.”
