Federal, State Officials Assess Crop Damage : Freeze: The head of the California agriculture department says he will recommend declaring an emergency statewide.

Federal and state agriculture and emergency officials on Wednesday toured Ventura County farms that were among the hardest hit in the state during last month’s freezing temperatures.

Authorities began the inspection of damaged orchards and fields in the county after an earlier stop in Tulare County to verify crop damage, a necessary step in obtaining federal disaster loans for farmers statewide.

Henry Voss, director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said he will recommend after returning to Sacramento that the state’s Office of Emergency Services declare an emergency statewide.

“We learned today that we do have a disaster throughout the state of California, with much broader damage among a cross-section of crops than what we would have thought a week ago,” Voss said before departing from Camarillo Airport after a two-hour tour of the county.

“I don’t think there has ever been a frost as bad in California before,” he added.

Jack Parnell, deputy secretary of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, said the federal government has money available for disaster assistance loans, but he could not estimate the total.

Ventura County Agriculture Commissioner Earl McPhail welcomed the visit from state and federal representatives. Their firsthand knowledge of damage will help growers obtain the loans they need to recover from the four-night frost that sent temperatures plunging to 15 degrees in Ventura County orchards, he said.

“Something has to be done to help us out,” said McPhail, whose office has estimated damage at $100 million in Ventura County. Like agriculture commissioners statewide, McPhail will update his figures as growers learn how much of their fruit is dried from the inside out and how much future harvests are affected.

No estimates of damage statewide were available Wednesday because any such figure would be “premature, just a guess,” said Bob Fox, chief deputy director at the Department of Food and Agriculture.

Ventura County is among 15 counties statewide that have taken steps to declare disasters in their areas from extensive frost damage, opening the way for federal assistance.

Tulare, Fresno and Kern counties have already made disaster declarations and requested assistance from the state, said Joe Bandy, regional coordinator for the Department of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento.

Ventura County Supervisor Maggie Erickson, who joined officials on the tour, said supervisors will declare an emergency at a special meeting planned today and ask the governor’s office for a similar declaration.

Gov. George Deukmejian already declared a disaster in Santa Cruz County, where the cold caused pipes to burst, impacting “the health and safety” of the residents, state officials said Wednesday.

Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) asked President Bush for his help in declaring the county a disaster as well, Lagomarsino’s office said Wednesday.

In both Ventura and Tulare counties, officials said, they saw evidence of severe damage to citrus fruit and trees. Some fruit was soft, indicating that its pulp had been freeze-dried, while the new, thumb-sized pieces were darkened and rock hard.

Curt Anderson, vice president of Sunkist Co., a cooperative that markets fruit for 6,000 growers primarily in California, estimated that about one-third of the annual crop has been lost.

“The wood itself has been damaged and will take a few years to grow back,” he said.

In Ventura County, the officials saw avocados that had turned from their natural black-olive to a rust color that indicates the fruit has rotted. They also saw cut flowers that were bent over and lifeless.

At Bob Jones Ranch near El Rio, strawberry plants looked relatively healthy, but the small white flowers that produce the fruit had dried.

“This is really something that happens once in a lifetime,” Voss said. “We have seen complete devastation in some areas.”

The frost damage caused two of the county’s largest fruit packers to cut back their work forces, putting 125 people on notice that they will be out of work in the spring and reducing hours for an additional 100 workers.

The Fillmore-Piru Citrus Assn. notified 125 packers that they will be laid off for at least a month beginning in March because of damage to navel oranges, said Ken Creason, association president.

He said the plant may close again in the fall because of the diminished crop of Valencia oranges.

Creason said it will be the first time in 12 years that the packinghouse will be closed in the spring.

Al Guilin, vice president at Limoneira Associates, said extensive damage to lemons, oranges and avocados on the company’s 3,000 acres between Santa Paula and Fillmore has caused the plant to reduce hours for more than 100 employees.

He estimated that at least 40% of the avocados, 30% of the lemons and 25% of the oranges were lost.

“We have not worked since the freeze,” Guilin said. Normally, he said, harvesters and packers are busy in January. “We’ll see just how much fruit is salvageable when we start picking and packing again next Monday.

“This is going to impact a lot of people,” he said.