California strawberry production severely impacted by flooding

According to local media, the recent round of heavy rains has severely impacted strawberry production in the Pajaro River Valley as well as the Salinas River Valley. Dykes broke and flooded the roads as well as the fields. Thousands of hectares of strawberries and lettuces are under water.

 

This disaster comes at the worst time, according to the CSC (California Strawberry Commission), because many of these fields have been newly planted with vegetable crops, leafy greens and, of course, strawberries. So there will be a lot of crop losses.

 

The state of California had estimated agricultural losses after the January storms at around 330 million USD. For the estimation of this current series of damages, the waters must recede from the fields but this largely depends on the repair of the Pajaro river embankment.

 

California is the country's leading producer of strawberries, raspberries, lettuce including spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.