California’s citrus industry appears to have emerged unscathed from a cold snap over the New Year period, according to Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual (CCM).
Nelsen said that while night time lows plummeted below 0oC in the San Joaquin Valley last week, growers had put adequate frost-protection measures in place, which saw wind machines operated for up to 10 hours each night. Growers are estimated to have spent around US$5m on fuel to operate the machines.
Nelson added that potentially damaging cold temperatures lasted only short periods of time, aiding the growers efforts and limiting the risk of crop loss.
CCM vice president Bob Blakely told Capital Press that the Californian industry remains on track to produce around 81m cartons of navels this season, with around a quarter of the crop already harvest.
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