Rural producers sleep worried and wake up relieved with risk of frost in SP

The cold arrived with intensity this Wednesday (18) and, with it, there was a record of frost in isolated points, but not enough to cause large losses in crops in the interior of São Paulo.

Rural producers who were worried about the risk of crop losses repeating the scenario of July last year, when crops such as coffee were greatly damaged, reported this Wednesday that they believed the worst was over.

The polar air mass that has advanced over Brazil brought intense cold, but it was a little milder than previously predicted, which alleviated concerns about more severe frosts.

“It won’t fall anymore [geada]. We were scared, but thank God he’s not going, I’m glad he didn’t come”, said coffee grower José Henrique Mendonça, president of the Rural Union of Franca and who owns a farm in Cristais Paulista, a neighboring municipality.

Last year, the frost loss was around 40% of production in the Alta Mogiana region, one of the country’s major producers.

In Mogi das Cruzes, there was a vegetable producer who separated plastic canvas to cover the plantation and minimize the damage, but it was not necessary to use it.

“This does not mean that I would be able to save the crop, but it would help to minimize damage. If the temperature stays below 0ºC for hours, the damage is certain”, stated José Benedito Oliveira.

There were occasional occurrences of frost in cities such as Mogi Guaçu, where orange orchards awoke with a light frost, insufficient to cause damage to trees – which are more resistant to low temperatures than other crops, such as vegetables.

Citrus orchards were also partially affected in lowland areas in rural Conchal and Mogi Mirim. In São Joaquim da Barra and Luiz Antônio there were records of ice in sugarcane areas.

In other states, there were records, for example, of frosts in Dourados, Bandeirantes and Sidrolândia (MS), but without large-scale damage.

The risk of frost made many rural producers go to the field even earlier to check for possible problems.

This was the case of kale producer Beatriz Sabino Almeida, 29, from Mogi das Cruzes, who had separated lots of molasses to help heal any damage to her production of about one hectare (10,000 square meters).

“It was frost-free, thank God. I didn’t know of any producers who were affected,” he said.

The risk of frost has made rural producers in São Paulo use recipes and develop techniques to protect crops.

In the most varied cultures, producers adopt metal tanks with sawdust and oil to make smoke and try to reduce the intensity of frost, while others throughout the year bet on strengthening the plant so that it can withstand low temperatures and frost.