[BurbankKarl]

Going to a lot of people hanging out at Home Depot once the layoffs start.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

The cause for this freeze is of course....global warming.

[dfwgator]

I saw "Trading Places", how do we know that crop report was not a fake one? :)

[flashbunny]

damnit, manbearpig has been busy!

[sionnsar]

Bush's fault.

[AD from SpringBay]

Expect prices to go up this afternoon.

[2banana]

Where is Al "We are all going to melt" Gore?

[Uncle Hal]

This brings back memories. My dad was in the citrus business in Porterville,CA. I remember when it got close to freezing my dad would be a basket case worrying about loosing the current crop of citrus and even the trees if it got cold enough. We used smudge pots to keep the trees warm. Boy, were they dirty and messy. Most growers used them and they caused a black cloud to hang over the area. I do not know if they are still in use today with all the environmental standards. I do not recall that we ever lost any fruit do to freezes. It probably took years off my dads life.

[USMCWife6869]

We have had some major freezing issues here in Yuma, as well. So far it hasn't had a major effect on crops, but the longer it continues, the worse it will be, I'm sure. Here it is mostly lettuce and citrus.

Excerpt from Yuma Sun article:

"Yeah, I've had some damage," Bill Spencer, president of Associated Citrus Packers, said of his company's citrus crop. However, he won't know how much until later in the week when the fruit starts showing the impact from its exposure to temperatures that dipped into the low 20s Saturday night and again Sunday night.

He said he has been in the citrus business since 1972 and "can't remember such a widespread freeze in the West of this magnitude. It hit from Sacramento Valley to Phoenix. The impact will be tremendous, not just on the industry, but on consumers."

Produce growers, meanwhile, are dealing with lettuce ice. It doesn't affect the crop much if the lettuce isn't harvested until the ice melts.

The last few days, that has taken until after lunchtime, reported grower Rick Rademacher. The half day to harvest, coupled with a shortage of farm workers, is resulting in less lettuce getting cut.

On the plus side, that shortage means the market is going up, he said.

But the continuing cold weather is taking its toll on the lettuce quality, said grower John Boelts. "Three or four days in a row ... that's when you get more damage."

It also slows the crop, Rademacher said. "You've got to water and fertilize it to keep it going. "And it's hard on the people to work in the cold and out in the wind."

The Yuma area provides more than 90 percent of the lettuce and other fresh vegetables for the United States during the winter months.

http://sun.yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_29357.php

Article written by Joyce Lobeck, article printed Monday, January 15, 2007

[Trust but Verify]

Unfortunate for the citrus growers, but the rest of us will just practice the good old economic principal of substitution.

[madison10]

Wondering if the super warmness (50 degrees for days this month) and then the freezing will destroy the apple blossoms in Michigan...

[IrishMike]

Bush and global warming the culprits.

[goldstategop]

Global Warming Alert!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[taxed2death]

I guess there's be a mass migration BACK to messico now.... right?

[junta]

Call FEMA and let them shell out some credit cards to the "poor" farmers and their "cheap labor."

[BonnieJ]

Our yard here in Phoenix, AZ has been substantially damaged the past few days from the freeze this area is experiencing.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

The cold snap has been particularly damaging because it has lasted twice as long as normal winter blasts and has plunged temperatures below 25, essentially making nighttime warming efforts by farmers futile.

.ice or fire..either way we're doomed

[RightWhale]

Buy orange juice futures!
Is there such a thing? It's probably too late to get in early anyway.

[martin_fierro]

How cold is it in Cali?

DAMN COLD.

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