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Record Cold Temperatures Endanger Local Agriculture

San Diego County flower and avocado growers are bracing for another night of record cold. Eric Larson is the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. He says local growers will lose mil

Record Cold Temperatures Endanger Local Agriculture

San Diego County flower and avocado growers are bracing for another night of record cold. Eric Larson is the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. He says local growers will lose millions of dollars from damaged fruit and crops because of the cold snap. Larson says San Diego is the largest avocado-producing county in the United States. He says farmers are already reporting effects from several freezing nights.

Eric Larson: We’ve already seen some fruit dropping from chill drop and normally you don’t see that for about a week or ten days after the cold. And so the fact that some fruit is already falling is an indication that there might be extensive damage in the avocados.

Larson says the nursery owners are waiting to see if their flowers will bud. Many of those flowers are grown for Valentine's Day. National Weather Service Forecasters say the nighttime temperatures are expected to be in the 30s and lower for many county locations again Monday tonight. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.