Schwarzenegger asks feds to declare San Diego a disaster

By: GIG CONAUGHTON and PATRICK WRIGHT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, March 6, 2007 8:59 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the federal food and agriculture department Tuesday to declare San Diego County a disaster area because of the crippling freezes that plagued the state in January.

A San Diego County report released Thursday stated that county growers lost almost $115 million in products -- a figure expected to climb -- when local temperatures sank to as low as 16 degrees inland in January. Avocado growers suffered the worst financial losses, at $38 million, the report said.

Eric Lamoureux of California's Office of Emergency Services said Tuesday that 47 of California's 58 counties had already been designated as disaster areas by the United States Department of Agriculture because of the freeze.

Lamoureux said if the federal government designated San Diego County a disaster area, growers would be eligible for low-interest federal business loans.

Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County farm bureau, said that the governor's request was expected, and that Schwarzenegger had only been waiting on the crop damage numbers from San Diego County to make the official request.

The governor's press release, relying upon the San Diego County damage report, stated that current estimates suggested a 20 percent to 41 percent loss to lemon, grapefruit, lime avocados, navel oranges, nursery and other crops.

Even so, Larson said the federal assistance would probably not amount to much in San Diego County because growers would have to show they could not get loans from traditional lenders to qualify for the low-interest federal loans.

However, Larson said that there would be some local growers who would qualify -- and that the loans would help.

"It (assistance) may not be widespread," Larson said, "but where it's needed it will really be appreciated."

Larson said that many local growers would be feeling the effects of the January freeze for quite some time.

"It's important to mention that that ($115 million) is not going to be the final (damage) figure," Larson said. "

Larson said the frost had hurt citrus and avocado trees so much that many wouldn't be able grow fruit for two years.

Local officials have said that the unusual freeze could cripple local avocado production for years to come.

Other local crops that were hard hit, according to the county's damage report, included cut flowers and foliage, with losses of $8 million; lemons, $6.3 million; herbs, $5 million; strawberries, $4.6 million; and herbaceous perennials (plants that typically survive more than one year), $2.7 million.

-- Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.