San Joaquin Valley Raisin Crop Damaged: A...

San Joaquin Valley Raisin Crop Damaged: A Fresno County Farm Bureau official said three rain storms late last month destroyed about 100,000 tons of San Joaquin Valley raisins. Jerald Rebensdorf, chairman of the bureau’s new Raisin Committee, said original estimates put this year’s raisin crop at 450,000 tons but after the September rain, the estimate fell to 353,902 tons. However, he said the revised estimate is still well above the estimated 1989-90 trade demand of about 290,000 tons. “It was going to be a huge crop, so the losses won’t affect the price of raisins to the consumer because there will still be more than enough to meet both retail and wholesale demand,” Rebensdorf said.