Central Florida’s fern industry – which raked in $70 million last year – will lose an estimated 40 to 60 percent of its foilage, commercial horiculturist Dana Venrick said Wednesday after visiting several Volusia ferneries this week. Small ferneries already reported losing at least four to five acres of foliage.

“I’ve observed a lot of ice and a lot of damage,” Venrick said “This is the longest, continuous freeze I can remember in my lifetime.”