Baker County farmers trying to protect crops from freeze

BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — In rural Baker County, folks are bracing for conditions to drop to the forecasted temperatures in the 20s early Thursday morning.

Third-generation farmer Blake Fish’s field of squash and crops is not immune to the freezing temperatures.

“The squash, zucchini can get killed in 29-degree weather,” Fish said.

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That’s why the Fish family used their tractor Wednesday to lay hay along their crops in an effort to save their cold-sensitive livelihood.

The First Alert Weather Team forecasted temperatures in the 20s for early Thursday morning.

“We’re going to set the [hay on] fire, going to hope the smoke and heat will hold the cold weather above the plants. This is a Hail Mary,” Fish said.

“In the 20s [degree weather], Florida crops are real sensitive to the cold weather,” Bennett’s Feed, Farm & Pet store clerk Samuel Adams said.

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The Macclenny-based store is seeing cold-related items fly off the shelves.

“Hay flies off the shelves, bedding, that’s really the main thing and heat lamps and bulbs,” Adams said as people flooded into the store to buy items to keep their pets and plants warm too.

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