By Kate CampbellAssistant Editor
Several crops suffered damage from the mid-April freeze. It will be several weeks before the extent of loss can be determined.
Although an official tally of crop losses due to freezing temperatures in mid-April is still being compiled, the economic impact will undoubtedly be in the multi-million-dollar range. The losses, primarily in Northern California, cut across a number of crops--winegrapes, walnuts, pears, peaches, prunes and wheat.
As farmers continue to assess the impact of the unseasonable cold snap and hard freeze that hit April 18 to 22, they're dismayed at the mounting signs of damage. Chardonnay grapes in Mendocino and Lake counties were hammered by the cold, while walnuts in Tehama County suffered hit-and-miss damage.
In Yuba and Sutter counties, peaches suffered freeze burn to the core of tender, young fruit. The same is being reported for pears in Lake County and prunes in Glenn County. Hopscotching across wheat fields in various northern counties, the freezing temperatures may cause considerable blanking as the crop progresses. In the San Joaquin Valley, plum growers near Exeter and Porterville report losses. Cherry orchards in San Joaquin County also apparently avoided damage, but farmers will continue to inspect orchards as the season progresses.
Mark Quisenberry, Sutter County agricultural commissioner, said freezing temperatures caused losses of more than 25 percent in many orchards and some farmers may have lost their entire crop. Other prune-growing areas also report losses.
During the worst of the freeze, overnight temperatures dropped into the mid-teens in many areas and stayed well below freezing for many hours through Monday morning, April 21. These subfreezing temperatures hit at a time when vineyards and fruit and nut trees were putting forth new growth, flowering buds and developing "nutlets."
In Mendocino County, records indicate that April's freeze was the worst growers there have seen in nearly half a century, with a very rough, preliminary estimate of crop loss at more than 40 percent countywide. The county's total agricultural production is valued at about $140 million.
"This has been a huge weather event for us," said Dave Bengston, county agricultural commissioner. "And in a lot of ways it's different than past events. We had a lot of walnuts and prunes back then. Those crops have disappeared and now the whole winegrape industry has built up. We didn't have many grape acres 50 years ago.
Several crops suffered damage from the mid-April freeze. It will be several weeks before the extent of loss can be determined.
Although an official tally of crop losses due to freezing temperatures in mid-April is still being compiled, the economic impact will undoubtedly be in the multi-million-dollar range. The losses, primarily in Northern California, cut across a number of crops--winegrapes, walnuts, pears, peaches, prunes and wheat.
As farmers continue to assess the impact of the unseasonable cold snap and hard freeze that hit April 18 to 22, they're dismayed at the mounting signs of damage. Chardonnay grapes in Mendocino and Lake counties were hammered by the cold, while walnuts in Tehama County suffered hit-and-miss damage.
In Yuba and Sutter counties, peaches suffered freeze burn to the core of tender, young fruit. The same is being reported for pears in Lake County and prunes in Glenn County. Hopscotching across wheat fields in various northern counties, the freezing temperatures may cause considerable blanking as the crop progresses. In the San Joaquin Valley, plum growers near Exeter and Porterville report losses. Cherry orchards in San Joaquin County also apparently avoided damage, but farmers will continue to inspect orchards as the season progresses.
Mark Quisenberry, Sutter County agricultural commissioner, said freezing temperatures caused losses of more than 25 percent in many orchards and some farmers may have lost their entire crop. Other prune-growing areas also report losses.
During the worst of the freeze, overnight temperatures dropped into the mid-teens in many areas and stayed well below freezing for many hours through Monday morning, April 21. These subfreezing temperatures hit at a time when vineyards and fruit and nut trees were putting forth new growth, flowering buds and developing "nutlets."
In Mendocino County, records indicate that April's freeze was the worst growers there have seen in nearly half a century, with a very rough, preliminary estimate of crop loss at more than 40 percent countywide. The county's total agricultural production is valued at about $140 million.
"This has been a huge weather event for us," said Dave Bengston, county agricultural commissioner. "And in a lot of ways it's different than past events. We had a lot of walnuts and prunes back then. Those crops have disappeared and now the whole winegrape industry has built up. We didn't have many grape acres 50 years ago.
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