California’s Schwarzenegger wants citrus aid

Adverse weather has also taken a toll on the Florida-dominated orange juice industry in recent years. After two nasty hurricane seasons compounded by drought and crop disease, PepsiCo Inc., which sells juice under the Tropicana and Dole labels, and Coca-Cola Co., which owns Minute Maid, each raised orange juice prices over the past several weeks.

Inflated prices also are expected for other crops that have fallen victim to the icy California weather, state agricultural officials said.

Lee Cole, chief of Santa Paula-based Calavo Growers Inc., which sells 35 to 40 percent of the state’s $380 million avocado crop, said the freeze may have claimed up to 40 percent of Calavo’s crop in Ventura County, with damage along the less-frigid coast between San Luis Obispo and Escondido hovering between 25 and 35 percent.

“Prices will certainly be higher,” he said.

If the damage is severe, the trees could also bear fewer avocados next year, Cole said.

Strawberries growing along the coastal regions of Southern California were mostly ruined, according to the California Strawberry Commission. The freeze also destroyed flowers that would produce the next berry crop on each plant.

Growers in the Imperial Valley also were worried about tender vegetables such as lettuce that may not have held up to nearly a week of temperatures in the mid-20s, said Brad Rippey, a USDA meteorologist.

Throughout the cold snap, growers have tried to save their crops by pumping fields with heated irrigation water and running wind machines to circulate warmer air and keep it from rising off the trees.

For cut-flower producers, the damage mostly will be felt in the form of increased heating costs, said Kathryn Miele, director of marketing for the California Cut Flower Commission, which represents several hundred growers.

Many flowers — including the Valentine’s Day rose crop — are pampered indoors, meaning growers are forced to spend more to keep greenhouses balmy, she said.

As state and county inspectors continue assessing the damage, fruit packers have been asked to keep produce harvested during the freeze on hold for five days to monitor quality problems and keep damaged fruit off shelves.

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