Valley farmers continue to watch temperatures closely

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Farmers throughout the Valley have been closely monitoring their crop after the past several nights of freezing temperatures.

Workers spent the day picking mandarins on these trees to move them from this chilly orchard to a much warmer marketplace. "It was cold so just kind of watched the temperature and you just sort of worry about what was going to happen to the crop," said grower Ray Enns.

Farmers around the Valley scrambled overnight to protect their fruit. A spokesperson for California Citrus Mutual says the cost for frost protection for growers in the San Joaquin Valley against the five night freeze has totaled $25 million dollars. Smaller farmers like Enns used sprinklers to keep their costs down

Inspectors who spent the afternoon slicing samples from around Fresno County say only three percent of samples tested were affected. But on Thursday they'll do another inspection to look for bad fruit. That test is expected to give inspectors a better picture of the damage caused by the back-to-back freeze.

Get more AG Watch »

ag report, ag watch, mariana jacob

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•