Posted February 12, 2014
Citrus growers in California lost about $441 million in revenue due to crop damage from a week-long freeze in December and a shortened growing season, according to an article by The Grower available here.
Shipments will likely end in mid-May instead of July. Losses totaled 40 percent of mandarins; 30 percent for navel oranges; and 20 percent for lemons.
“A slight increase in price might recover some loss, however the industry is wary of fruit becoming too expensive,” California Citrus Mutual (CCM) president Joel Nelsen said in a news release. “History tells us that higher prices result in demand for offshore citrus or alternative commodities.”
The state’s citrus industry spent $49 million “using wind machines and irrigation equipment to protect the valley’s $1.5 billion crop” from the freeze, according to an article by Capital Press available here.
Bob Blakely, CCM’s director of industry relations, said that about 90 percent of growers have purchased crop insurance which will cover the costs of continuing to farm, but “doesn’t leave any room for extras.”
For more information on crop insurance, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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