As much as 70% of oranges still on California trees may have been destroyed by record cold temperatures across the state, officials and farmers said Monday.
It will take days to make a full assessment of the losses to the $1.1-billion orange crop. But the state's top agriculture official said Monday that damage to fruit and vegetable crops overall will be greater and more widespread than in the devastating freeze of 1998, which destroyed $700 million worth of produce across California.
"This cold incident will surpass the 1998-99 freeze," said A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Losses, although greatest in the San Joaquin Valley, seem to be spread through many parts of the state that typically have been immune to freezes, he said, "from San Diego ... to the coast."
In addition to citrus fruits, growers are reporting damage to other crops, including leafy greens, avocados, strawberries and blueberries, said Kawamura, who has spent the last few days visiting farms from Fresno to Ventura.
Some farmers are reporting damage to 100% of their crops, and many others say more than half their produce is destroyed, he said.
The orange crop was particularly hard-hit because growers had picked only 30% of the state's 193,000 acres of orange groves before the freeze.
Consumers could feel the effects in higher costs, said Toni Spigelmyer, spokeswoman for Sysco Corp., the nation's largest food service distributor.
"We've lost about 50% of the orange crops, had significant losses on lemons and it's going to have an effect on vegetables," Spigelmyer said. "Basically, what we're going to see is a tighter supply and much higher prices."
The cold snap has been particularly damaging because it has lasted twice as long as normal winter blasts and has plunged temperatures below 25, essentially making nighttime warming efforts by farmers futile.
"The trees are looking sad," said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, a growers association. "They're normally a vibrant green color with these bright orange dots all over them. Now the leaves are curling and they're turning yellow. They're really stressed."
Citrus farming employs 12,500 people in California, not including those who pack the fruit and drive the delivery trucks. Even the companies that make the boxes in which the fruit is shipped will have a bad year, he said.
