Kern County, CA
By Eric Anderson
5.8.13
Kern County stone fruit and almond growers were hit hard by Sunday’s fierce wind storm. The blustery conditions stripped cherries, peaches, and plums off trees, and uprooted thousands of shallow-rooted almond trees – presenting a possible long-term handicap, according to the Bakersfield Californian.
Cherry-picking is going into high gear despite recent damage from severe winds and rain which have caused bruising, bronzing, and splitting in a large portion of the crop. Area growers indicate that the fruit must be picked and some have taken to using helicopters to dry off the fruit to continue harvest.
Deputy Director with the Kern County Department of Agriculture and Measurement Standards Glenn Fankhauser noted that it isn’t uncommon to lose some almond trees to the wind. Trees heavy with almonds are more vulnerable to being blown over. The recent storm; however, has caused more damage than usual to Kern County’s $727 million almond industry.
Fankhauser said that a single orchard lost over 1,500 trees over the weekend. It can take up to a decade to get a new tree into production.
"It's a really big disaster for one of our biggest crops, Fankhauser said.
Cherry growers also took a hit, especially as the storm followed on the heels of hot temperatures that pushed the fruit towards harvest. Many growers have resorted to extreme measures to protect fruit and get crews in the orchards to pick.
The Ranier variety is estimated to have taken a 40 percent to 50 percent loss, according to Fankhauser.
Growers note that high fruit loss could trigger some growers to abandon their crops on the trees because the cost to pick would outweigh the value of the fruit in the packing house.
The full extent of the damage to other varieties of cherries won't be known until harvest is complete.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the updates on the storm’s impact.
