02/20/06 The freeze and the costs

Many producers in the fruit growing region have been busy this past weekend determining just how much the Arctic Blast that came through Thursday and Friday affected the potential 2007 tree fruit crops. But according to Rob Valicoff of Wapato-based Valicoff Fruit, the Arctic chill should be expected this time of year. VALICOFF: You get this soft January's and you can just about count on the fifty per cent chance of the month of February that you're going to get a cold arctic somewhere around the middle of the month, and I think if you take a ten year average, I bet you we've have at least four or five years, maybe six, that we've had a February where we've had temperatures that would reduce crop. In Valicoff's case, his main concern was bud damage to peaches, nectarines, and even cherries & crops very susceptible to the cold. But one issue growers were dealing with was costs&the potential costs of losing parts of their crop to the freeze, versus the costs of running wind machines and propane heaters during the cold spell in hopes of keeping the existing crops alive at a time when fuel prices can eat away at profits quickly. VALICOFF: You're looking at maybe one or two degrees that you can actually do some good, and so that threshold is maybe ten degrees, and so you hedge your bet and you come in there at twelve degrees, and so you're spending money when you don't need to and then it get's to five degrees and you can only raise it to seven degrees. Now you're spending money when it's not doing you any good.