Southern California Agriculture

This is where Southern California has come to quench its unquenchable thirst--300 miles north of Los Angeles, straight over the Tehachapis and up the gut of the San Joaquin Valley to the dairy farm of John, Jess and Rusty Areias.

With sightings of fire ants on the rise around the Southland, state agriculture officials are preparing a massive public-information campaign to help combat the insect with the mean sting. Today in Rancho Santa Margarita, ground zero for California's fire-ant infestation, the state will announce a plan to use everything from billboards to television spots to spread the word on how to identify and help eradicate the pest. The campaign, expected to cost about $1.

This is one of the few places in Southern California where at least 80 nights each year chill to a true freeze, spring days are balmy and folks are of a mind to let strangers frolic in their back yards. All three are necessary criteria for the U-pick cherry orchards that give this tiny hamlet its name and each spring draw crowds of families from Los Angeles and Orange counties and elsewhere.

The term "garden variety" means commonplace or ordinary, but 'Eva's Pride,' a garden variety peach, is anything but that. It tastes so sweet that you might wonder what you are eating if it weren't for the peach fuzz and that distinctive peach taste. It is so juicy that wearing a bib is not a bad idea. Still, 'Eva's Pride' didn't even make the top 20 on a list of best-tasting fruit varieties compiled by Dave Wilson Nursery, a fruit tree grower.

California's successful plea for federal drought aid for a project to protect Sacramento River spawning grounds drew a snort of disdain from one Eastern congressman this week who chided the state for seeking to keep "yuppies supplied with salmon mousse." But the fact is that California has endured two consecutive years of drought. It has weathered the prolonged drought as gracefully as it has, however, because 90% of the state's agriculture is irrigated.

An Orange County judge on Tuesday refused to force open the Fullerton airport to malathion-spraying helicopters, dealing the state its first legal setback in its 10-month aerial attack on the Mediterranean fruit fly in Southern California. State agriculture officials, disappointed but undaunted by the ruling, promised to find another base in time for tonight's scheduled spraying around Garden Grove and Panorama City. They will also consider appealing the ruling.

Late Wednesday night, a squadron of helicopters lifted off from Long Beach and flew a one-hour sortie over the city of Compton, carrying a final dose of malathion to fight a flare-up of Mexican fruit flies. The mission was something of a milestone in a long and frustrating aerial war that has been waged over Southern California.

Every time the economy hits the skids, cobbler James Hedge sees more customers walk into his small Ventura shop asking for repairs of old, worn shoes that would be thrown away in more confident times. "There's a regular flow of people now," said Hedge, co-owner of Paramount Shoe Repair. Judging by more conventional standards, economist Stephen Levy thinks that Southern California and the whole state are very close to a recession.

Just three years ago, George Rosenthal appeared to be on the verge of achieving his longtime dream of creating a commercially successful vineyard in the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. His first usable grape crop was in, and Rosenthal envisioned a time when he would be able to produce 1,500 cases a year of his Rosenthal The Malibu Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. High on his prospects, he planned to add seven acres to his 12-acre vineyard.

Mediterranean fruit fly fighters in California are scrambling to find a good source of organic wheat after pesticide-tainted grain killed larvae and stopped production of sterile Medflies at laboratories in Hawaii for two weeks. The sterile flies are released into infested areas in an effort to eradicate the Medfly population, which is considered a major threat to California agriculture. There is already a shortage of the sterile flies, which the tainted-grain incident has worsened.

They are tourists not even a chamber of commerce can love. A virtual rogues' gallery of migrant pests--drawn to California's legendary clime and bountiful opportunities for advancement--are increasingly hitchhiking, sailing and flying into this state, often with devastating consequences: Crop losses alone cost about $1 billion a year.

Strawberry production across Southern California is three times greater this season than it was a year ago, with a mild winter providing a lightning quick start to this year's harvest. The heavy yields will mean an abundance of berries on supermarket shelves over the next month, a bonanza expected to drive down prices but still produce a windfall for berry farmers.

Pest fighters in the Imperial Valley and Mexicali released swarms of voracious wasps Wednesday in a battle to stem the North American invasion of the pink hibiscus mealybug, which can suck the life out of hundreds of varieties of fruit, vegetables and flowers. The mealybugs (Maconellicoccus hirsutus) have wreaked havoc in recent years in the Caribbean and Hawaii but had not been seen in North America until they were uncovered a few weeks ago in the border region of southeast California.

Trees snapped and lemons rained down as Phil Kruse's bulldozer churned through yet another orchard. "There's nothing to it!" Kruse shouted above the din. "It's amazing how fast you can knock something down. I can do 2,400 trees a day--easy!" An affable Ventura County native, Kruse, 35, has knocked down his share of trees in 15 years of clearing old farms to make way for new suburbs. Outraged seniors once screamed at him as he cleared the way for a strip mall.

California farmers, who on Tuesday sustained their worst frost damage in years, were bracing for another round of freezing temperatures that could destroy a significant portion of the lemon and orange crops. Colder weather is forecast today through Thursday, with temperatures expected to drop into the low 20s in some farming communities. Meteorologists said a jet stream is carrying frigid air into California from Alaska and western Canada.

Before the sky shows its early morning blush, Jimmy Otsuka is already crouched in the middle of his beloved strawberry fields, carefully tending to newly planted seedlings. It will be dark before he's done. Wedded to the rhythms of farm life, this third-generation Japanese American farmer still works the five-acre patch in Santa Ana that his father bought in 1947. Today, however, the short furrows of his field quickly end in asphalt. The farm is surrounded by fences and tract homes.

The signs were handmade but the messages were legible and curt. "Stop malathion spraying." "It's your air! No spraying." "Honk your support." The scrawled slogans reflected the frustrations and resolve of 100 demonstrators gathered last week at the intersection of Brea Boulevard and Imperial Highway in Orange County. For two hours, they persisted, waving the signs at rush-hour motorists and evoking nearly constant feedback of horns and shouts.

State agriculture officials, girding for a crucial stage in their long campaign in Southern California against the Mediterranean fruit fly, unveiled details Monday of a new battle plan that calls for continued pesticide spraying over much of the now-infested territory and more aggressive attacks against any new flare-ups. Under the new plan, roughly 250 of the 470 square miles now being treated with the pesticide malathion will be sprayed from one to three more times this month.

Before the sky shows its early-morning blush, Jimmy Otsuka is already crouched in the middle of his beloved strawberry fields, carefully tending to newly planted seedlings. It will be dark before he's done. Wedded to the rhythms of farm life, this third-generation Japanese American farmer still works the 5-acre patch in Santa Ana that his father bought in 1947. Today, however, the short furrows of his field quickly end in asphalt. The farm is surrounded by fences and tract homes.

Australia banned imports of fresh fruit from the U.S. because of a Mexican fruit fly outbreak in Southern California. The government suspended imports of U.S. grapefruit, kiwi, persimmon and other fresh fruit as "a precautionary measure" until the risk posed by the infestation can be assessed. Fruit already headed for Australia will be held in quarantine upon arrival. U.S. exports of fresh fruit were valued at $2.1 billion last year. Of that amount, $9.1 million worth of fruit, or 0.