The Bitter Cold Will Affect Workers More Than Crops

Workers harvestingSalinas fields Wednesday will be workingless hours this week as temperatures drop considerably, but most of their crops are in the clear.

One grower pointedout ahead of lettuce that is already formed and developed. It’s ready to be peeled,but had the head not been formed, then they would be worried. Workers got an earlier start at harvesting radicchio, the specialty Italian lettuce which is fully developed and capable of handling freezing temperatures.Grower Dennis Donohue said that doesn’t stop the all the problems.

“The entire work week is going to be affected by this,” said Donohue.

Typically during freeze warnings, the workers have to wait until the crop thaws out, if they were to package this Italian lettuce frozen, the product would just go bad. That means workers are losing out on their typical 10 hour shift and less hours, means less money, for everyone — even when it comes to production.

“Bottom line is like I said, I think you’re going to get your production day impacted by 20-25 percent, ” said Donohue.

Unless this freeze continues for an extended period of time, right now most growers haven’t brought in helicopters to keep the crops from freezing.

Young orange trees, on the other hand, need more help. In Gilroy, they got a potentially life-saving white winter blanket.

Growers running avocado and citrus farms on the outskirts of Gilroy have thousands of trees, some worth as much as ten thousand dollars apiece.

Workers already moved avocado trees into greenhouses.