It’s been a cold winter. Okay, okay, maybe not that cold by the rest of the country’s thick-skinned standards, but we’re certainly feeling the freeze. And so are the citrus farmers of the San Joaquin, who fear that the such low temperatures could devastate the year’s crops, specifically fretting about the smaller, more sensitive mandarins among the bunch.
The weather is so far suspected of endangering no more than a quarter of the crops and typical orange varieties like navel and Valencia are likely to go unscathed, though farmers are still scrambling to pump warm water and air to the crops to keep them protected.
Hopefully, the mandarin crop will at least be hearty enough to welcome in Chinese New Year next month, lest we all need depend on a lesser fruit to turn our fortunes around. [Bloomberg via LAist]
