<p>Watermelons are as essential to some Fourth of July celebrations as fireworks, patriotic music and flag waving.</p><p>But this year, those wanting the melons for their picnics may be paying record prices for the fruit because of weather problems in Florida and Georgia, two of the nation's top producing states.</p><p>"The crop has been short and it's been delayed," said Tommy Irvin, Georgia's commissioner of agriculture.</p><p>Florida's season is usually winding down when holiday demand cranks up in early June, leaving Georgia to supply the bulk of Independence Day melons consumed along the East Coast.</p><p>But this year, the crop was delayed in both states by cool spring temperatures, excessive rain and overcast skies, leaving suppliers scrambling.</p><p>As of last Sunday, Georgia growers had harvested only 11 percent of the crop, compared with 47 percent during the same period last year. Florida's late harvest is continuing, with some of melons being used to boost the holiday supply, officials said.</p><p>With more than half of Georgia's crop rated good to excellent, quality doesn't seem to have suffered greatly.</p><p>The shortage has buyers swarming every arriving truckload at the State Farmers Market in Cordele, a major shipping point for the fruit, said market manager Bill Dorough.</p><p>"When a truck comes in, we almost have to shoo away the buyers," Dorough said. "They're trying to buy them before they get parked.</p><p>"I've never seen us this short of watermelons," said Dorough. "The Fourth of July market may not get many watermelons to picnic with."</p><p>Farmers selling watermelons from the back of pickup trucks at the market have been paid as much as $5 apiece, compared with 60 to 80 cents last year, Dorough said.</p><p>Higher volume sellers, with enough to fill refrigerated trucks, have received 20 to 21 cents per pound, compared with 15 cents last year, he said.</p><p>Gordon Ethridge, a major watermelon buyer who has been traveling to Florida for 51 years, said he's never seen such a crazy season.</p><p>Seedless watermelons, which normally sell for 16 to 18 cents per pound, have been selling for 20 to 24 cents in Florida, and seeded melons, which normally go for 12 cents a pound, have been bringing 16 cents per pound, said Ethridge, the owner of Ethridge Produce in Raleigh, N.C.</p><p>Consumers may be spared the impact of the higher prices in supermarkets because major chains contracted before the price jump, he said. Small grocery stores or produce markets, on the other hand, likely will pass on the higher costs, he said.</p><p>Georgia melon prices normally drop dramatically after the Fourth, but that may not happen this year.</p><p>"The bulk of our crop is going to come off after the cutoff date for ... the Fourth," said Ken Lewis, the county Extension Service coordinator in Crisp County, Georgia's production leader. "That's the bad news. The good news is that everybody up the East Coast is delayed like we were."</p><p>For this reason, suppliers may have to rely on Georgia for post-holiday melons, he said.</p><p>"Usually we just get killed after the Fourth," Lewis said. "But I don't see the bottom falling out ... and that is most unusual."</p><p>Bob Rawlings, a watermelon grower in Rebecca, about 20 miles southwest of Cordele, said farmers are disappointed they didn't have higher yields.</p><p>"Prices are holding good," he said. "They were extremely high to start with. I think they're beginning to soften as we get closer to Fourth."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cde124)</p>
