A View into the
Texas Citrus
Industry During the February Freeze
T BY DALE MURDEN
It has been a year for the history books for citrus growers in the RGV. A lingering drought, Hurricane Hannah in July taking 20% of the crop followed by a devastat ing freeze in February. Valentine’s day 2021 will forever be stamped in grower’s minds. It is hard to sum up in words the hours and days of a freeze for citrus growers. Heart breaking. Gut wrenching. Powerless. Watching the temperature forecasts and knowing the damage that is to come. Looking at your grove full of years of hard work, investment, and promise. And the stark realization that all will be changed in a few short hours. On February 14, 2021, temperatures dropped below 32 degrees then continued to drop over the following days, dipping to 21 degrees for a four-hour period. Altogether, the citrus trees
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were exposed to 50 hours of below freezing temperatures. Anything below 28 degrees is devastating for citrus trees, with lower temps and extended times causing even more havoc. Any attempts to warm the trees were foiled by the wind. The juice inside the fruit freezes and expands, bursting the juice sacks and turning the fruit to slush. Some say you can hear loud pops reverberate throughout the grove as the tree bark splits open. Growers walking through the groves, slicing the fruit open to scrape ice where there should be juice. Then the freeze passes and temperatures rise like nothing happened. And yet within days a once thriving citrus grove is unrecognizable. Lush trees laden with grapefruit and oranges is now a wasteland of dropped fruit, withered leaves and damaged or dead trees. 60% of the region’s grapefruit crop and 100% of the late orange crop were lost. In addition, early
