LOCAL FARMERS HIT HARD IN 1998; VENTURA COUNTY CROP LOSSES SURPASS $125 MILLION.Byline: David Greenberg The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Daily News Staff Writer Having lost $51 million in crops to El Nino storms, Ventura County farmers had nearly $75 million destroyed by December's cold snap cold snap Noun a short period of cold and frosty weather Noun 1. cold snap - a spell of cold weather cold spell , making 1998 one of the worst years ever for the area's No. 1 industry. Farmers fought the Dec. 20-24 cold snap with wind machines and irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. , yet still reported $74.3 million in damage to oranges, lemons and avocados. Coupled with El Nino-related damage - including $31.2 million from a Feb. 23 storm - the agriculture industry suffered $125.3 million in losses last year. The last time Ventura County saw such a devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. loss was Dec. 21-22, 1990, when frost killed off $128 million of the citrus and avocado crops being harvested by 700 local growers. ``It's obviously a big loss,'' said W. Earl McPhail, county agricultural commissioner. ``This is definitely the worst freeze we've had since 1990. We don't feel great about it.'' Last month's freeze - which also destroyed some $600 million in crops in the fertile San Joaquin Valley Noun 1. San Joaquin Valley - a vast valley in central California known for its rich farmland Calif., California, Golden State, CA - a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes - forced navel orange prices to jump from 69 cents a pound to as much as $1.79 a pound at local stores. Wholesale avocados remain stable at about $40 per 25-pound box as most of the current harvesting is occurring in the San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. area, which escaped the freeze. ``Ventura County is (currently) light-harvesting,'' said Ross Wileman, vice president of Oxnard-based Mission Produce Inc. ``The summer is when the bulk of the picking is accomplished. We would anticipate (prices) will be slightly higher.'' Nearly all of last month's local damage occurred in the Santa Rosa Santa Rosa, city, Argentina Santa Rosa, city (1991 pop. 80,629), capital of La Pampa prov., central Argentina. It is a modern city and road junction surrounded by a rich agricultural and cattle-raising area. Valley and areas west of Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. . A steady breeze coming off the Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
In the hardest-hit areas, temperatures dropped below 28 degrees for as long as 10 hours in some areas, killing: 20 percent of the county's lemon crop, resulting in $43.5 million in losses. 20 percent of the Valencia oranges, which are used to make juice. The estimated loss is $21 million. 15 percent, or $9.2 million, of the avocados. 10 percent, or $600,000, of navel oranges. ``It could have been much worse,'' McPhail said. ``There's still a lot of good fruit out there. Compared to the San Joaquin Valley, we came through this very well.'' Fillmore-Piru Citrus of Piru, and Limonera Co., located west of Santa Paula, shut down their orange packing-house operations following the freeze. As a result, packers and haulers - who also handle fruit from the San Joaquin Valley - are not expected to be called back to work for two to four weeks. Limonera is still packing lemons while orange packing is Fillmore-Piru Citrus' only operation. Spokesmen at those two plants could not been reached for comment. As many as 4,000 people temporarily lost their jobs in the San Joaquin Valley, where Fresno, Kern, Tulare and Madera counties lost their entire crop of lemons and 90 percent of their oranges. Pete Wilson, in one of his last acts as governor last week, declared the San Joaquin Valley a disaster area. McPhail said he will not ask the Board of Supervisors to make such a declaration, which is usually reserved for crop losses of at least 40 percent. |
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