{"id":141245,"date":"2026-02-02T23:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/141245\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:03:07","slug":"florida-farmers-assess-damage-after-record-breaking-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/141245\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida farmers assess damage after record-breaking freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Record low <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/weather\/weather-news\/photos-south-florida-wakes-up-to-icicles-as-arctic-blast-brings-record-breaking-cold\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">temperatures<\/a> that swept across the state over the weekend dealt a blow to local farmers, though many say the damage could have been much worse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">WATCH: &#8216;It&#8217;s been brutal,&#8217; says farm manager of recent freeze<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">At Painted Quarters Cattle Company in Indiantown, frost still clings to papaya trees and banana plants that didn&#8217;t survive the multi-day freeze. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Farm manager Virginia Sanders estimates they lost about 5% of their crops despite extensive preparation efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;It&#8217;s been a little challenging,&#8221; Sanders said. &#8220;It&#8217;s been brutal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The farm covered crops ahead of the arctic blast, similar to protective measures taken at <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/weather\/weather-news\/palm-beach-county-farmers-cover-crops-with-freezing-temps-in-the-forecast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alderman Farms in west Boynton Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">However, some produce still shriveled and froze despite the precautions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t think they are going to make it,&#8221; Sanders said, examining damaged plants. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if it will come back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Treasure Coast<\/p>\n<p>Orange growers work to protect citrus from freezing temps<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The cold posed particular risks to newborn animals. Sanders said the freezing temperatures could potentially kill baby livestock, prompting round-the-clock monitoring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;We put down extra hay, extra bedding. They know how to keep warm,&#8221; Sanders said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Farm workers stayed up through the night checking on vulnerable animals, including a baby goat, several piglets and a cow all born during the freezing weather. All the newborns survived the frigid conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">&#8220;This was a little too cold,&#8221; Sanders said of the crop damage. &#8220;But it could have been a lot worse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Farmers face one more night of covering crops and protecting animals before temperatures are expected to warm up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Record low temperatures that swept across the state over the weekend dealt a blow to local farmers, though&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-141245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}