AGRICULTURE
ADAMS RANCH
Treasure Coast cattle like the ones in this photo are mostly sold to feed lots from Texas to Colorado.
We’re here for small businesses in good times and bad
For the latest updates on how coronavirus affects Treasure Coast business and the programs available to help
businesses recover, visit TCBusiness.com and subscribe to our free Treasure Coast Business e-newsletter
TCBusiness.com 15
SPRING 2020 | TCBUSINESS.COM
LOOKING AHEAD
AFTER CORONAVIRUS
It’s like nothing business owners and operators
have ever faced.
One week, we are in the midst of an unprecedented
boom, all cylinders running.
The next, stores and manufacturing plants
are shuttered and employees are laid off.
The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the
world of commerce to its core.
To help Treasure Coast businesses recover,
we have dedicated much of this issue to providing
strategies to overcoming the pandemic
and helping area businesses to recover losses
as quickly as possible.
This issue includes a special eight-page section
produced by our partners at the Florida
Small Business Development Center, as well as
guidance from experts in the field on everything
from how to keep cash flow going to
how to market your business in times of crisis.
We don’t have all the answers, but we know
that working together we will overcome this
monumental setback
This issue of Treasure Coast Business is
produced through a unique partnership
between Indian River Magazine Inc. and
the Florida Small Business Development
Center at Indian River State College.
SEE STORIES STARTING ON PAGE 4
A COMPLETE GUIDE TO FEDERAL
RELIEF PROGRAMS
TREASURE COAST BUSINESSES
PITCH IN THE BATTLE
PAGE 15 PAGE 12
BANK LANDSCAPE CHANGING
ON TREASURE COAST
PAGE 24
TAMCO OPENS 411,000-SQUAREFOOT
FACILITY IN PORT ST. LUCIE
PAGE 28
FELLSMERE FARM SUPPLIES
HYDROPONIC VEGETABLES
PAGE 30
TCBusiness.com
the farming workforce,” Nelson said. “We’re
trying to make the best plans we can as to
how to manage that.”
That includes mandatory mask-wearing
and additional spacing and physical barriers
at packing houses this fall.
While sales of Florida oranges and
grapefruit were up in the spring, production
forecasts for the citrus year are down
5 percent since March, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture says.
A June forecast for the 2019-2020 citrus
season that runs from October through
September shows production of 67.65
million 90-pound boxes of oranges and 4.9
million 85-pound boxes of grapefruit. In
March, the citrus year forecast was for 71
million boxes of oranges and 5.4 million
boxes of grapefruit.
But that is due to Mother Nature and
not the virus, said Nelson. Fruit was
smaller than expected this season, meaning
it took more pieces to fill those boxes,
and not because of the virus or the citrus
greening disease, which continues to be
the top nemesis for Florida growers.
CATTLE PRICES DIP
Florida cattle prices in March and April
were down about a quarter from a year
earlier, but in May and June recovered to
nearly last year’s levels, said Chris Prevatt,
an industry economist at the University of
Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences. Treasure Coast cattle sold in
March and April fell a third from 2019, said
Rick Modine of Modine’s Trails End ranch
in St. Lucie County. May and June prices
returned closer to the norm.
Overall, fewer calves will be sold in the
2019-2020 season, because the processing
plants in the middle part of the United
States will not be able to boost production
enough to make up for greatly slowed processing
in March and April, Prevatt said.
Florida cattle are mainly sold to feeder
lots in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado,
which then sell to the processing
plants. The knock-on effect of increased
or decreased processing plant production
in turn hits the feeder lots and Florida’s
ranches, said Wynne. v
/www.tcbusiness.com
/TCBusiness.com
/TCBusiness.com
/TCBusiness.com
/TCBUSINESS.COM
