00:00Arctic Air, it's been delivering another sub-freezing morning, reaching as far south as Florida.
00:04Across the deep south, farmers are assessing crop impacts for a second straight day.
00:10AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson is live near the Florida-Georgia line.
00:14And when you're looking at frost, the key is clear skies, light winds, dry air, light winds, and some frost this morning.
00:22Now we're going to head inside.
00:23Yes.
00:24I can't wait to hear that, Leslie.
00:26Take it away.
00:26Yeah, good morning to you, Bernie and Ari.
00:32So, you know, being a farmer in the south really is all about pivoting when the weather changes.
00:37So that means sometimes picking your crop a little early, sometimes pulling all-nighters, all kinds of things going on.
00:43We've got Dale Aldridge, general manager here from Florida Citrus Farm.
00:48Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
00:50Good morning.
00:50Glad to have you.
00:51We're going to get to the large piece of fruit you have in your hand in just a second.
00:54But tell me what's going on behind me.
00:55So we know we had the freeze.
00:57Picking a little bit earlier this time?
01:00A little earlier this time.
01:01And the fruit's already a little earlier this time.
01:03But what you see going on behind me, we're running the fruit down the sizer.
01:07And we're bending it, waiting for us to see which customer's coming first today, which truck will show up.
01:12And from that point, we'll go back and box this fruit and have it loaded on the truck this afternoon.
01:16So being a farmer in the South, like I talked about, not only do you have to worry about hurricanes, you have to worry about freezing weather, you have to worry about bugs, insects after hurricanes.
01:25How difficult or is it over the years to adapt to Florida's ever-changing weather?
01:30You know, and it's really important to be able to adapt because one insect's giving you a problem one season.
01:35The next season, it's a total different insect causing you trouble.
01:39So you have to adapt every day, even in the packing house, even to trucking itself.
01:43Truck drivers coming in not on time, ahead of time.
01:46A lot of things to adjust to during the course of the day even.
01:49And then you were telling me yesterday that you all are pulling a little bit earlier, some of the fruit a little greener.
01:54But that actually might be a benefit for the consumer.
01:56Talk to me about that.
01:57Absolutely.
01:58I tell customers all the time, a green piece of fruit with a little green on it is just as good as a piece of fruit that's solid orange.
02:04So never be concerned about that.
02:06So we are pulling the fruit a little earlier this time because of the freeze event, not before last.
02:11But we think everything's made it through this freeze event.
02:13We're going to be just okay.
02:15And just real quick, you guys, we have some video of that freeze from yesterday morning.
02:19Dale was out here turning on the irrigation systems.
02:21The crops out here did have a nice thin layer of ice from the irrigation to help keep these fruit trees safe from the bitterly cold temperatures.
02:30Again, temps got into the 20s yesterday morning and this morning.
02:34But it is a rapid rise in the temps today already in the 40s and 50s here where we are.
02:39But as we come back out to you guys live, Ariel Scalise asked last hour the proper way to peel a fruit.
02:46I aim to deliver, Ariel.
02:47So Dale is going to show us he's got a navel.
02:50And we're going to have you just show it up to the camera.
02:53Show us the proper way and tell us how you scale a fruit.
02:56Unlike a satsuma, a satsuma, you would just peel it right there.
03:01You know, it peels very easy.
03:03But a navel can be way more difficult so we handle it different.
03:07So I take my knife and I score it down both sides.
03:14Peel it out.
03:15I'm telling you, you guys, I had this yesterday.
03:19This is amazing fruit and a little sweeter, right?
03:22It is a little sweeter.
03:22This is a red caracara navel.
03:25Really, really good piece of fruit.
03:27I will do my duty for you, Ari, and I will taste this for you.
03:31I can tell you it smells amazing.
03:33Oh, my gosh.
03:35I want to make sure I'm eating my fruit correctly.
03:37And I appreciate you finding the answers, Leslie.
03:40You are great.
03:41Hopefully you've got napkins.
03:42It looks like a juicy piece of fruit.
03:43And, Dale, thank you so much for the demonstration.
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