ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — December’s wave of unusually cold weather has destroyed much of Florida’s green beans and sweet corn, which means shoppers will pay more at the grocery store and see more imports on the shelves.

Florida is the nation’s largest producer of green beans and sweet corn — the kind we eat, not the kind we put in our gas tanks.

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, the state lost $273 million from the December freezes alone — including nearly 9,000 acres of crops. The statistics are compiled only through Dec. 20, which means they don’t even account for the problems caused by this week’s cold.

This year dealt a one-two punch for the state’s farms. An 11-day spell in January was one of the area’s coldest periods on record, and December has had an unprecedented trio of cold fronts.

Sam Accursio lost nearly all of his pickling cucumbers at his Homestead farm last January. Eleven months later, about half of his new crop has been wiped out.

“It’s crazy,” Accursio said. “I’ve never experienced a growing season where we’ve had four frosts in one year.”

Gov. Charlie Crist extended the state of emergency for Florida’s agricultural community this week. The order eliminates all weight restrictions on trucks carrying agricultural products so farmers can harvest and ship as much produce as possible before more damage is done.

But if any Florida corn, cucumbers or beans find their way onto grocery store shelves in coming weeks, prices will be higher.

J.D. Poole, the vice president and sales manager of Pioneer Growers Cooperative in Belle Glade, said corn was selling at $8 a box at the beginning of December. Now it’s selling for $30 a box (there are 48 ears of corn in a box).

About 80 percent of the crop in western Palm Beach County — where most Florida sweet corn is grown — was destroyed during the first cold snap in December. Corn farmers farther south in Homestead are still trying to determine what, if any, damage was done to their young plants by this week’s weather.