Million-dollar risk rides on couple of cold nights in Florida’s berry fields

Carl Grooms’ strawberry crop made it through the longest cold snap of his 36-year career, but Saturday left him wondering if all his sleepless nights were in vain. The lowest temperatures were yet to come. Tonight he could still lose everything. So when the drizzling rain subsided in the afternoon, Grooms and his Fancy Farms workers grabbed paintbrushes and bottles of lubricant to coat the sprinkler heads that dot his 225-acre farm — a precaution taken only during the coldest weather.