1989 Christmas Freeze

Prior to addressing the social outcomes of the 1989 Christmas freeze, it is essential to outline the context.  The 1989 Christmas freeze came as a shock to most citrus growers. With the back to back freezes in the early 80s, the industry felt like it was recovering. They were sadly mistaken. On December 22,  from a varied of forecasts such as the Frost Warning Service, citrus growers were issued a warning that the temperatures would be dropping below the 30s and they should expect wind speeds to be 20mph. Citrus farmers had a few days to prepare for the freezes. For most growers, like Frank M. Hunt, there was nothing that could be done except wait. As mentioned earlier there is several tentative methods that a farmer could take to try and preserve their crops, but most of them were either costly or too considered too risky to attempt. Most growers took the hit that Mother Nature was throwing at them. This resulted in groves located in McIntosh, Circa, and De Land becoming “out of the citrus industry.”Globe & Mail reported on December 27, 1989 that freezes cost farmers “one orange in five.” This resulted in shortages. It brought the price of oranges and orange concentrate up. In order for Florida to meet the juice demands, several packing house in Florida actually imported oranges from places like Brazil. Attaway explains how this shifted $4.7228 billion from growers in Florida to producers in Brazil.⁴³ Not only did this freeze promote citrus industry’s outside of Florida, which would create increased competition in the following years, but it also did a great deal of geographical damage. In this one decade of freezes Florida went from having 845,283 acres in 1980 to have a gross loss of 500,000 acres by the end of the decade.