Handshake deals guide Florida grower after 2026 crop freeze

By Grace Kim

Florida Best Farms uses local labor to pack about 3 million pounds of blueberries and 750,000 pounds of muscadines, putting the scale of Jason Watts’s operation beyond the 10 acres where he started.

Watts, one of Florida’s leading blueberry farmers, runs roughly 450 acres of blueberries in his hometown of Oviedo, Fla., plus a few hundred head of cattle, a growing muscadine grape operation and an exotic pesticide business.

The diversified operation has expanded since its blueberry side began in 2009 and has survived the COVID-19 pandemic, competition from Mexico, labor shortages and recurring freeze threats during the blueberry and muscadine seasons.

Watts runs the operation on handshakes, not signed contracts. “They’re essentially putting their trust in me, Jason, in Florida Best Farms, to do what’s best for their fruit,” he said.

What did the January 2026 freeze destroy?

A late-January 2026 cold snap destroyed Watts’s entire crop and decimated blueberry and muscadine grape crops across his community. Neighboring farmers fared no better, so the packing house did not open, removing a crucial local outlet.

The conveyor belt over his head stood quiet during this year’s blueberry harvest after the freeze stole most of Florida’s crop. The 3 million-pound blueberry and 750,000-pound muscadine packing figures describe operating scale, not fruit harvested in 2026.

By October, Watts was well into replanting the affected acreage and adding new varieties. He said: “I doubled down and replanted. When it wiped out the crop, I bit the bullet and went big to replace plants with new varieties.”

He expects the 2027 harvest to offer the first indication of whether the gamble worked, while full impact will not be known until 2028. Those dates mark forecasts, not harvested results.

This year’s loss is settled; the replanted crop remains unproven.

Why does Watts prefer handshakes to contracts?

Watts markets produce from his own acreage and packs for other growers who hand over harvests without a signed agreement. He spreads sales across at least five marketing companies each season, choosing buyers he believes will deliver the best price.

He rejects putting all fruit in one marketing basket and says multiyear commitments give buyers too much control over growers.

His objections to contracts cover three risks:

• Volume: A commitment can exceed a grower’s control, as the 2026 freeze demonstrated.
• Price: Preseason formulas often lock in expectations that favor buyers over farmers.
• Exit costs: Breaking free from a poor contract can require an expensive, court-based process.

At season’s start, a typical handshake sets an initial volume and targets 500,000 pounds if the season runs normally; if weather shortens it, Watts does his best.

Large corporate buyers remain the exception. Watts says their paperwork is generic, and he signed his biggest contract only because the buyer required something official.

He treats paperwork as a formality rather than a relationship’s foundation and views agriculture as the last sector where a person’s word still matters.

Handshake terms trade legal protection for flexibility when weather and supply change.

How do prices and timing shape sales?

Watts says blueberry prices swing quickly, while muscadine prices hold around $18 to $20 because supply is limited. Cattle sales follow predictable seasonal patterns; if he does not need the money, he can wait a month before selling.

Splitting sales among buyers and holding cattle for a better seasonal price can protect farm margins, particularly when a fixed contract would lock in a lower price.

No input-cost, basis or multiyear price series accompanies those observations, leaving the margin advantage unquantified.

Optionality may protect returns, though no cost data quantifies the gain.

What brought Watts from football to farming?

Watts grew up in Oviedo, starred at the University of Kentucky and ranked among the country’s top centers. A deadly traffic accident on the way to hunting killed two friends, left a scar on his right forearm and caused less-visible wounds. He later played for the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, played in Europe and endured 13 surgeries.

He left football in 2002 and asked to be released from his contract before a Super Bowl trip would have earned him a $175,000 roster bonus and, if the starter had been sidelined, a place on the field. A team representative tried to talk him out of leaving. Watts did not listen.

He calls himself the luckiest unlucky guy in the world. The accident still drives his regret, while agriculture gave him a second career.

His family now includes a son whose team he coaches, a younger daughter succeeding in sports, an older daughter working toward certified pilot and flight instructor status, and another son in the cattle business.

He was named Sunbelt Ag Expo’s Florida Farmer of the Year in 2024 and keeps about 800 hives for crop pollination. The spray business nearly forced the family to pawn his wife’s wedding ring to cover home utility bills.

Looking back, he says he might be a millionaire had he not gone hunting that morning, but the same decision brought him into Florida agriculture and, by his account, allowed him to build a life and a business from 10 acres. He considers that outcome a blessing.

The 2027 blueberry harvest will provide his first read on the replanted crop; the full effects of the new varieties will not emerge until 2028.