Storms hamper harvests across California

Californian farmers have suffered from floods and heavy rain this month which have caused many problems for farmers statewide. Crops, including citrus, vegetables and nuts, were affected and damaged by the unfavorable weather. While California is in desperate need of rain, this month has been too much for some areas.

"For many of our farmers, it's difficult to get in to plant or they have crops in the ground that are hard to harvest because the fields are muddy," said Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, a California-based trade group representing about half of the nation's fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts.

In January, some farm regions of the state had rainfall totals exceeding 10 inches. Several areas in Northern California, including around the Sacramento River Delta farming region, have already exceeded their annual water year totals.

Farmers statewide have suffered from muddy fields caused by the storms which are hampering harvests and pruning which is delaying certain crops. Rains also could produce mildew issues with some vegetables, particularly spinach.

Linsey Dale, executive director of the Imperial County Farm Bureau explained, "It's just a mess. There's a loss of revenue because it's too muddy to harvest."

In central and southern California, the USDA reported that "rain continued to slow the Navel orange and Satsuma mandarin harvests."

Still, many growers welcomed the recent storms and suggested more rain would be helpful to restore the drought-depleted aquifers.

"It's all been good stuff," said Bill Diedrich, a farmer in the Central Valley who grows almond trees. "It's been effective rainfall — it's soaking in and going down."

The USDA and the state food and agriculture agency didn't have damage estimates.

source: cnbc.com