The San Diego Traveler

Frozen crops in San Diego? If you don’t live in San Diego county, you may find it hard to believe that we consider this a cold winter. I know – we’re just soft. We’re often blessed with summer days in the middle of what we laughingly refer to as winter, and we whine when we have to put on a sweater. Put us in Minnesota for a day, and we’d really know cold, right?

Well, you’re absolutely right, and I’ll acknowledge that it does take a certain brand of nerve to complain about temperatures dipping into the twenties or thirties overnight, especially when they rise to the fifties, sixties, and occasionally even seventies during the day.

But San Diego’s recent cold snap and record low temperatures have gone beyond cocktail party fodder. The cold is destroying much of our $1.5 billion agriculture industry. (You’d be amazed at the number of crops grown in San Diego County!) Crops like avocadoes, citrus and guavas are grown here because they need the warmth of the San Diego sun; they just don’t tolerate the cold.. We’re the largest producer of avocadoes and decorative plants in the country, the destruction of these crops will be felt nationwide.

What’s being done?
On January 12^th, the governor declared a State of Emergency for all of California’s 58 counties. On Friday, San Diego was added to the state’s list for emergency crop damage assistance. On Saturday, State Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura held a meeting with local growers and agriculture officials at the San Diego County Farm Bureau office in Escondido. After touring some of the damaged crops, he said he believes the freeze was more widespread than the one in the winter of 1998-1999, which caused $700 million in damage.

For more information, contact:

San Diego County Office of Emergency Services
5555 Overland Avenue, Building 19
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 565-3490
(858) 565-3499 fax

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