Hollister
– This month’s freezing weather cost San Benito County farmers
at least $800,000 and damaged 260 acres of crops, but the damage
totals could rise as many continue to evaluate their fields.
Hollister – This month’s freezing weather cost San Benito County farmers at least $800,000 and damaged 260 acres of crops, but the damage totals could rise as many continue to evaluate their fields.
County Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich predicted the mid-month cold spell could end up costing local growers $2 million to $4 million in crop value.
Statewide, the cold weather will likely cost growers more than $1 billion, according to the governor’s office. While many other counties were hit harder by the cold, San Benito did not escape damage.
On Thursday afternoon, Terry Kenworthy walked out of his house, lit up a cigarette and strolled over to the rows of palm trees growing on his San Benito County property.
“It breaks my heart,” Kenworthy said.
Kenworthy has been growing palm trees on his land west of Hollister for eight years. He sells mainly to wholesalers, but also to individuals looking to give their landscaping a tropical motif.
Walking through the rows of Mexican fan, Canary Island date, Chilean wine and California fan palms, Kenworthy inspected the fronds, trunks and soil surrounding the trees.
Kenworthy said the palm trees planted within the last three years, which have less insulation to the cold, seemed to have suffered the most damage.
He said he won’t be able to sell a tree until the palms can grow and repair, most likely six months.
Kenworthy hopes bacteria and fungi will not invade his palm trees in the meantime, taking advantage of their weakened state.
San Benito growers like Kenworthy are welcoming this week’s warmer temperatures after the coldest weather in recent memory.
Matulich said the freeze was the worst he has seen in 16 years.
“In ’91 it was ridiculously cold,” he said. “It got down to five degrees. That ’91 deal was worse than this.”
Red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, field crops such as grain hay, and nursery stock such as flowers and trees were hit hardest, he said.
Lettuce and nursery stock are important to San Benito, bringing in plenty of cash for county growers.
Romaine lettuce brought San Benito growers more than $16 million, and county nursery stock was valued at more than $33 million in 2005, according to the agricultural commission.
Costs of raising cattle could also rise, due to cold temperatures stunting growth of pasture grasses, said Sergio Garcia, a farm adviser with the local University of California cooperative extension. The lack of food for grazing forces ranchers to buy supplemental feed, Garcia said. The colder temperatures also required more energy and thus more food for the cattle, he said.
Cattle production in San Benito netted more than $16 million for ranchers in 2005, according to the agricultural commission.
But Richard Silva, vice president of the San Benito County Farm Bureau and a row crop grower, remains optimistic.
Although he has lost a three-acre field of leeks and half of his recently planted romaine lettuce, he is still evaluating the condition of recently sown seeds.
“What we perceive to be death may turn out to be a healthy plant in the future,” Silva said.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or mv*********@fr***********.com.
