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E-mail StoryCold is no sweat for farmers
Frost puts growers on alert, but no damage reported
| Wednesday, Nov 29 2006 7:20 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Nov 29 2006 7:24 PM
The cold snap that brought an overnight dusting of frost to some areas of Kern County is not expected to have much impact on local farmers.
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Temperatures in Bakersfield were near freezing Tuesday night and reached a low of 32 degrees early Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.
Temperatures as low as the high 20s were recorded in some Kern County citrus groves Tuesday night, putting local growers on heightened alert. But David Krause, the president of Delano-based Paramount Citrus, said temperatures would need to drop lower and stay there for longer for there to be significant damage.
"There was no damage last night," Krause said Wednesday. "We'll be watching to see what happens. As of now we're OK."
The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for Wednesday night. David Spector, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said temperatures could drop below freezing Wednesday night and today before warming up over the weekend. Just to be sure, some citrus growers have taken precautions like running warm water through irrigation systems and using wind machines or hovering helicopters in fields to push down the higher warm air.
The local navel orange harvest generally runs from mid-October to March, with Valencia orange harvest starting as early as March, Krause said.
"Citrus is our main concern," said Jim Donnelly of the county's agriculture and measurement standards department.
With most local crops already harvested, local agriculture experts don't think colder temperatures pose much of a threat to other crops.
Donnelly said Wednesday afternoon he hadn't seen any reports of damage from local grape growers.
Cold weather is a welcome sight for local almond growers, who completed harvest a month ago. Cooler temperatures provide chilling time, which helps trees go dormant and come back strong the next year.
"Almonds like cold weather," said Richard Jelmini, owner of R&M Jelmini Farms and president of the Kern County Farm Bureau. "This is good weather for chilling."
Jelmini also said he wasn't worried about his carrots, adding "the frost itself isn't going to hurt the crop any."
Mark Bagby, the director of communications for Bakersfield-based Calcot, a cotton marketing co-op, said the cotton harvest is about 99 percent complete.
"Cold weather at this point is not a negative factor for us," Bagby said.