Orange Harvest Largely Withstood California's Freezes Last Year
The record-setting freeze of last winter in California wasn't as much of a crop-killer as agricultural experts feared.
The navel orange harvest is largely complete, and the California Farm Bureau Federation reports production was down 28 percent -- nowhere near the 80 percent loss from the last severe freeze in 1999.
Produce expert Michael Marks says there's even better news about the trees themselves.
Marks : The trees have really responded well, walking through orchards throughout the state...San Joachin Valley...the coast...Southern California....and the orchards are looking absolutely gorgeous. Now there are a few trees here and there throughout the orchards that they're going to have to take down, but for the most part, most of those orange trees have really survived well.
Marks says lemon and avocado crops and trees sustained a bit more damage than the oranges, but even they survived in far better shape than experts had predicted.
