California Crops Suffer a Blow

Get ready to pay more for some of your produce. The arctic air which grips much of the nation has also taken a severe toll on California's citrus crops.

State officials said there was no clear way of knowing at this point how much damage had been done by the freeze, which has sent temperatures plunging into the teens and 20s from Eureka in the north to near the Mexican border for several nights.

Farmers in some sections of the Central Valley, the 400-mile-long agricultural engine, and farther south reported near complete losses of fields of oranges, lemons and other citrus.

The state’s food and agriculture secretary, A. G. Kawamura, said the damage appeared even more widespread than that from a freeze in December 1998 that cost growers $700 million.

Losses could total close to $1 billion. The Food and Agriculture Department estimates the value of citrus still on the trees as being close to that amount. Other crops are also at risk such as strawberries, avocados, lettuce and celery.