January 3, 2013
Updated Jan 3, 2013 at 9:00 AM PDT
180,000 acres of the Central Valley are covered with it. $2 billion dollars a year is made from it.
Freezing temperatures can give a citrus farmer the chills. Exceptionally cold weather lately leaves growers with two options, both of which cost a lot of money.
Depending on the type of Orange, below freezing temperatures can destroy a crop. Using irrigation and heating fans can save the fruit, but each fan costs about $30 per hour to run.
With over 16,000 of those fans running in the valley, the cost balloons to over half a million dollars.
Still, citrus growers might say they got off easy this year. In 2011, they were forced to use heating techniques twice as many times as they have this season to date.
TXT 24
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