California’s avocado crops being destroyed by wildfires

Industry experts say that the raging southern California wildfires are now destroying the state’s precious avocado crop. 

‘We’ve lost at least several hundred acres of avocados, probably more,’ Research Program Director for the California Avocado Commission Tim Spann told AgNet West.  

It’s estimated that more than 132,000 acres of land in Ventura County have been blackened by the wildfire, named the Thomas Fire. 

Avocados that were charred by the Lilac Fire in Bonsall, California 

Experts told Reuters that while the majority of the family-owned avocado orchards have not been engulfed in flame, the crops have likely suffered in massive ways from the hot Santa Ana winds coming out of the desert. 

The winds, which are gusting up to 80 miles per hour are said to be ripping the avocados off tree branches. Once on the ground, food safety regulations stipulate that the avocados cannot be sold for human consumption. 

‘A lot of that fruit everybody was looking forward to harvesting next year is laying on the ground,’ chief executive of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, John Krist, told Reuters. 

According to Ben Faber, a University of California farm advisor in Ventura — where 90 per cent of America’s avocados are grown — avocados are usually harvest in February and March, with full-size avocados beginning to appear in December, attached to trees by long stems, making them more vulnerable to the desert winds.   

Even if the avocados doesn’t appear to be scorched, damage could still be present in the form of internal heat damage or sunburn resulting from the loss of the tree canopies.  

Inmate firefighters work to put out the blaze in an avocado orchard in the Ojai Vista Farm

The Ojai Vista Farm is among those avocado orchards threatened by the Thomas Fire

Additional fire-related crop damage could have an impact on America’s multimillion-dollar avocado industry for a year or more. 

It’s thought that the crop will also be affected by the thick coating of ash that the fires leave behind. The ash would interrupt the work done by insects that hunt pests that feed on avocado trees. 

‘That’s going to cause a disruption to the bio controls that’s going to go on for a year or more. So the impact of the fires is not all immediate,’ Faber said.  

Ventura’s lemon crop is also expected to suffer from the same issues. Eighty per cent of the nation’s lemons are grown in Ventura County, however the lemons may fare slightly better than the avocados in the end, due to their being a lighter fruit grown on a shorter, sturdier stem, experts say. 

Experts do not expect avocado prices to rise due to the wildfire damage, since Ventura’s crops represent only a portion of the worldwide production. Most avocados are grown in Mexico and South America. 

In August 2017, reports surfaced that avocado prices rose in the US due to a poor harvest in both the US and Mexico the previous year.

Still, 2016’s avocado harvest produced a crop worth in excess of $400million, reports BBC News.   

Fire crews in Southern California are rushing to contain devastating wildfires, with dry desert winds expected to intensify over the weekend.

Smoke from the raging wildfires in Ventura County is seen on Saturday. ‘I used to love the wind—the feeling of free-spiritedness it brought as it whipped through my hair and made me a little unsteady on my feet,’ wrote photographer Jenni Keast. ‘Not any more. Now it’s just bringing destruction and mayhem as my beloved state burns’

Smoke from the fires is seen from the air over Southern California on Saturday. Over the past week, six major wildfires have killed at least one person, destroyed hundreds of buildings, and forced more than 200,000 people to flee

Over the past week, six major wildfires have killed at least one person, destroyed hundreds of buildings, forced more than 200,000 people to flee and choked the air across much of the region.

California Governor Jerry Brown will survey the destruction of the state’s devastating wildfires on Saturday.

Forecasters predict wind gusts to become more intense by Saturday night, challenging the 8,700 firefighters who have been battling the fast-moving blazes for five days. 

‘As we know, when a tornado hits the Midwest, there’s no stopping it. When a hurricane hits the East Coast, there’s no stopping it. When Santa Ana winds come in, there’s no stopping them,’ said Captain Kendal Bortisser of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.

Naval Aircrewman 1st Class Justin Greene, assigned to the ‘Merlins’ of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3, searches for hotspots from an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter to support California fire fighting efforts

Firefighters watch as flames erupt on mountainsides in the Los Padres national Forest north of Ojai on Friday.Unrelenting winds fanned towering flames in southern California, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee

A hillside glows with embers as the Thomas fire burns through Los Padres National Forest near Ojai, California on Friday night

This map shows the areas of active wildfires northwest of Los Angeles as of Saturday morning. Fire crews are bracing for high winds over the weekend, with forecasts calling for gusts up to 40mph Saturday and up to 50mph Sunday

Winds were expected to gusts up to 40mph Saturday and up to 50mph Sunday in the Los Angeles and Ventura areas, the National Weather Service said.

The winds ‘potentially put the fires that are currently burning at risk of spreading,’ said Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for CAL FIRE.

The fire is continuing to spread, although Thursday’s high winds have eased off, making firefighting easier. Shane Winton sprays water on a friend’s property as the Thomas Fire approaches in the town of La Conchita

The fires have taken people by surprise over a large swath of Southern California since the biggest fire broke out Monday evening in Ventura County.

There, the only death attributed to the fires so far involved a 70-year-old woman who was found dead in a wrecked car on a designated evacuation route in the small city of Santa Paula.

Virginia Pesola, 70, was found dead in Ventura on Wednesday. Officials said she had been fleeing the Thomas Fire – the oldest and biggest of the blazes – when she died.

Three people were also burned trying to escape a fast-moving fire that started Thursday 50 miles north of San Diego that overran a mobile home retirement community and a race horse training facility.

A man bicycles past bluffs burned in the Thomas Fire on Thursday in La Conchita, California

 Fire crews search for hot spots among destroyed homes in the Rancho Monserate Country Club community on Friday

A general view shows dozens of mobile homes consumed by the Lilac wildfire in Fallbrook

Fire ravaged vehicles remain parked in front of burnt out homes off Highway 33 north of Ojai, which was surrounded by the ever-growing fires

This photo was posted on Twitter by astronaut Randy Bresnik, who wrote: ‘I was asked this evening if we can see the SoCal fires from space. Yes Faith, unfortunately we can. May the Santa Ana [winds] die down soon’

The fires reached San Diego County on Thursday, with the Lilac Fire tearing through retirement homes and ranches in Bonsall as it crept toward Oceanside

Shelby Hope walks through the remains of the Padilla Ranch near Sylmar, which was ravaged by the Creek Fire, on Wednesday. The ranch owners were forced to flee for their lives, and were unable to free their horses – 29 of which perished