Early Rains Take Toll on Southland Strawberry Crop : Agriculture: Storms knocked blossoms off, then encouraged mold. The harvest is off 22% from last year.

The adage that rain is good for farmers didn’t hold true for Southern California’s strawberry growers this season.

As the spring harvest draws to a close this month for most growers, the crop is down 22% in the Southland and 36% in Orange County.

After six years of drought, the rain was welcome for other crops, but it came at the wrong time for berries. In February, storms knocked the blossoms off flowering plants. And rains in late March and April, usually the peak of production for Southern California growers, encouraged the berries to mold.

“It’s been my worst year,” said Hiroshi Fujishige, 69, whose family has been farming since he was a boy. His 58-acre plot is near Disneyland.

Because each berry had to be checked carefully for signs of mold, Fujishige said, the harvest was time-consuming and expensive.

Such seasonal and climatic variations often monopolize conversations at the wholesale fruit market in downtown Los Angeles.

Armando Tabora, owner of Farmer’s Market Fruit & Produce, said he heard several weeks ago about problems in Southern California’s strawberry crop. But, Tabora said, the overlap of other areas’ crops has meant “the retail price is holding and the quality has been good.”

In fact, according to the California Strawberry advisory board, Northern California growers--in Santa Maria, Monterey and the San Joaquin Valley--had a near-record season. The trade group is projecting a crop of 80 million trays statewide for this year, down 9% from last year’s 88 million. Each tray holds a dozen pint containers.

While a recent thunderstorm in those counties may have damaged crops, generally abundant berries have kept prices in the 98-cent to $1.49 range, up slightly from last year’s bargain levels.

Times staff writer Andrea Maier contributed to this story.

Orange County’s Strawberry Jam

Though strawberry production in Orange County was up nearly 30% last year, it is off by more than a third during the first six months of this year. Statewide, the picture is just the opposite: Production is up nearly 7%.

Orange County*

Harvest in millions of trays Year: Production 1988: 10.1 1989: 6.3 1990: 6.8 1991: 8.8 1991: 5.6 (as of June 13) 1992: 3.6 (as of June 13) * Includes a small portion of Los Angeles County

California

Harvest in millions of trays Year: Production 1988: 70 1989: 70 1990: 76 1991: 88 1991: 42 (as of June 13) 1992: 45 (as of June 13) Note: A tray holds a dozen pint baskets

More Plants, Less Fruit

For the first six months of this year, Orange County--as well as the rest of Southern California--has had more strawberry acreage but has produced fewer berries.

Harvest as of June 24 in millions of trays

Production Acreage WATSONVILLE-SALINAS REGION 1991 13.8 8,600 1992 18.9 9,000 SANTA MARIA REGION 1991 8.1 5,500 1992 1 0.2 6,000 OXNARD REGION 1991 13.5 4,400 1992 11.0 5,000 ORANGE COUNTY 1991 5.7 1,700 1992 3.6 1,800 SAN DIEGO COUNTY 1991 1.0 377 1992 0.8 492

Top Crops

Strawberries were the second-largest money-making crop in Orange County last year.

In millions of dollars Nursery stock and cut flowers: $141.6 Strawberries: $44.0 Valencia oranges: $24.1 Avocados: $22.5 Tomatoes: $15.4 Peppers, bell and miscellaneous: $10.5 Green bean: $7.2 Squash: $5.1 Celery: $4.8 Cabbage: $4.0

Sources : California Strawberry Advisory Board, Federal-State Market News, Orange County Agricultural Commissioner