Crop Catastrophe : December’s Cold Snap Set a Record and Handed Ventura County Farmers a Loss of $51 Million

The December cold snap was the costliest in history for Ventura County farmers.

“Overall, we figure the loss at $51 million plus, the highest dollar loss we’ve ever had,” said Earl McPhail, county agricultural commissioner.

Damage was particularly heavy to the lemon, strawberry, Valencia orange and avocado crops.

The cold temperatures damaged about 17% of the lemons beyond recovery for a loss of almost $19 million, McPhail said. Some 10% of the strawberry crop was lost, at a cost to growers of $6.6 million, and 15% of the avocado crop, at a cost of $6.7 million.

The Valencia orange groves received a double blow, he said. Frost killed about 15% of the fruit, worth $8.3 million. Then high winds swept the groves for several days, blowing weakened fruit to the ground before it could recover.

More than 7% of the celery crop was damaged, at a cost of $4.7 million. Nursery stock suffered a 7.5% loss, worth $3.5 million, and cut flowers 10%, for a loss of $1.6 million. Although 20% of the navel orange crop was lost, there are comparatively few navel orange groves in the county, so the loss totaled only $700,000, McPhail said.

In all, the price tag far surpassed the $32 million lost in December, 1978, and January, 1979, when there were two freezes within a month of each other, he said.

In 1986, the most recent year for which figures are readily available, Ventura County’s growers produced crops worth $613 million.

Although December’s cold brought the highest dollar loss ever, the record for the most damage caused by a cold snap was set “back in 1938, when trees split from the cold,” he said.

Bob Brendler, University of California farm adviser in Ventura County, said that “almost none of these losses are covered by insurance. Because the exact amount of a loss is so indefinite due to fluctuating prices and other factors, it’s almost impossible to get insurance for things like frost or wind damage.”

Brendler said, however, he has not yet seen any increase in prices attributable to the freeze.

Jack Dickenson, president of Limoneira Associates, a farming partnership with about 3,000 acres of orchards in various areas in Ventura County, said his firm expected to lose at least $300,000 and possibly far more. The loss includes $200,000 spent on helicopters and wind machines to stir the air, preventing formation of cold pockets.

The company’s avocados--a $1-million-a-year crop--were the hardest hit, he said, with about 20% of the fruits destroyed.

At the Armstrong Nursery in Thousand Oaks, which has about 2.5 acres of ornamental shrubs and trees, manager Dan Diaz said the cold killed “about 5% of the stock, maybe $2,000 worth of tender items like bougainvillea and hibiscus.”

Craig Mason, general manager of Agricultural Land Services, which has 2,100 acres of citrus and avocados around Ventura County, said not only did the cold kill about a quarter of the growing avocados, it so shocked the trees that “many of the trees in our area won’t produce any fruit at all this year.

“The lemons that would have been harvested in July and August were the worst affected and I think there will be a real shortage of the fruit then,” he said. “We lost 15% to 20% of our summer lemons. Some lemons were ready to be harvested and 5% to 10% of them were lost, too.

“As of now, it looks like 5% to 10% of the oranges have stem damage, but it could be more and it probably will be. This is going to have a significant impact on the industry,” Mason said.

At Pierce College in Woodland Hills, where there are 14 acres of crops, the loss was not severe, said Frank Baugh, assistant dean of the agriculture school.

“All our citrus and avocados are on a slope, and the coldest air sinks away from them,” he said. “Most of the damage was limited to nursery plants in the ornamental horticultural area, maybe 10% of what we have, with a retail value of about $2,000.”