California oranges hit hard by freeze

As much as 70 percent of California’s $1 billion orange crop has been destroyed by record cold temperatures across the state, officials and farmers said Monday.

It will take days to fully assess the losses. But the state’s top agriculture official said Monday that damage appears to be greater and more widespread than in the 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, while greatest in the San Joaquin Valley, seem to be spread throughout many parts of the state typically immune to freezes, he said, “from San Diego, to the Central Valley, to the coast.”

In addition to citrus fruits, growers are reporting damage to leafy greens, avocados, strawberries and blueberries, said Kawamura, who has spent the past few days visiting farms from Fresno to Ventura.

Some farmers are reporting 100 percent damage to their crops, and many others say well over half their produce is destroyed, he added.

Consumers could feel the impact in price at the grocery store, said Toni Spigelmyer, spokeswoman for Sysco Corp., the largest U.S. food-service distributor.

“We’ve lost about 50 percent 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 is particularly insidious because it has lasted twice as long as normal winter blasts and plunged temperatures below 25 degrees, essentially making night warming efforts by farmers futile.

Claire Smith, spokeswoman for the 6,000-member Sunkist Growers cooperative, said that up to 70 percent of the navel oranges still on its members’ California trees have been damaged. Avocado farmers say this past weekend was the most damaging in 16 years, when the Big Freeze of 1990 wiped out crops.

Guy Witney, of the California Avocado Commission, said the frost could not have come at a worse time for avocado farmers.

Only 5 percent of the $350 million crop was picked before this weekend, Witney said.