Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson has alerted the state's agricultural producers that highway restrictions have been eased so that they can quickly harvest and transport crops that are vulnerable to the freezing weather expected to blanket Florida early this week.


On Friday, Commissioner Bronson asked Governor Charlie Crist to declare a state of emergency and issue an Executive Order directing the state Department of Transportation to relax the weight, height, length and width restrictions for commercial vehicles transporting vulnerable crops to processing sites.

Governor Crist signed an Executive Order, which takes effect December 10, 2010, and remains in effect for seven days.

"We are anticipating some severe temperatures early next week and this action will enable our farmers to move as much product as possible before weather damage occurs," Bronson said. "Hopefully, this will help our agriculture community lessen their losses."

Bronson has alerted organizations representing the state's agricultural producers and trucking interests of the governor's action so they can load and transport crops in accordance with the relaxed highway restrictions.

Florida's growers produce nearly all our nation's domestically produced fresh fruits and vegetables during the winter and Bronson says there is much at stake, both for the state's farmers and for consumers all across the United States who count on Florida to provide them with fresh domestic produce in the winter.

The severe cold weather threatens many of Florida's crops including: bell peppers, snap beans, cabbage, celery, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, escarole, grapefruit, lettuce, oranges, variety peppers, radishes, squash, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, sugarcane, a wide variety of horticulture, and aquaculture crops such as tropical fish. In many cases, producers won't know the full extent of damage for several weeks.