For Small Farmers, Truly a Disaster

The floods of 1997 have caused nearly $155 million in damage to farms and crops in Northern and Central California, the state Department of Food and Agriculture said in a preliminary report released Friday.

Given the scope of California’s diverse $20-billion agriculture industry, the losses calculated so far are unlikely to drastically affect supplies or retail prices for food shoppers.

But they represent dire setbacks for a variety of individuals in farming communities in California and beyond, from beekeepers to prune packers.

With thousands of acres and scores of buildings still under water, county officials have been hobbled in efforts to assess the full effects on farmers of the widespread flooding.

Ann M. Veneman, state agriculture secretary, cautioned Friday that the estimate is “very preliminary.”

“As the flood waters begin to subside, we expect these figures to change as county commissioners are better able to assess the damaged areas,” she said while touring the farm community of Lathrop in San Joaquin County.

To date, about $70 million in damages to farm buildings, private levees, irrigation systems and other infrastructure have been reported. In addition, 25,000 acres of crops have been lost, with an additional 92,500 acres damaged by rain and flooding, for an estimated loss of $48.5 million.

Among the crops most affected are wine grapes, with $11.7 million in damage; alfalfa ($8.5 million); wheat ($4.6 million); and broccoli ($3.2 million). Livestock and dairy losses, including decreased milk production, drowned animals and destroyed feed, are estimated at more than $22 million.

The preliminary farm-damage estimates pale in comparison with overall damages from the flooding, which have been put at more than $2 billion and are expected to rise.

But for people like beekeeper Eric Olson in Yakima, Wash., the damage is painful. He has already computed what the California floods will cost him: There’s the $150,000 in hives that floated away before their occupants could be enlisted two weeks hence to pollinate almond orchards near the Tuolumne River in Stanislaus County. Olson must also spend $43,000 to buy replacement hives.

In addition, he will turn over nearly $23,000 in pollination proceeds to another apiarist who will provide bees so that Olson can fulfill his pollination contracts. And he’ll pass along an additional $4,000 in profit to yet another beekeeper who is leasing some colonies to him.

“My bees rode their hives right to oblivion,” Olson said. “Now there’s a scramble on to get more.”

Steve Danna Jr., owner of a Yuba County packing house, said his facility is still under 10 feet of water, making it impossible to gauge just how bad the damage is. The Danna & Danna packing house, in the unincorporated community of Arboga, holds a big prune dehydrator, a squash packing line and a walnut hulling operation, along with more than 100 tractors, pickups and other vehicles.

“It’s going to really set us back,” said Danna, one of the owners. “All our electrical motors and electric tools, like welders and lathes, are all sitting under water. It will be a massive undertaking to get it all repaired.

The floods have also swamped 2,400 of the Dannas’ tree crops and wheat, which now contain a motley mess of natural and man-made junk. The wheat is already gone, but if the trees die, he said, “now you’re talking long-term big dollar losses” and a wait of seven years before full production returns.

Danna, who has flood and crop insurance, figures his damages so far at $2 million to $5 million.

Damage has been relatively slight in Sonoma and Napa counties, home of some of the state’s finest wine-grape vineyards. Eric Lauritzen, Sonoma County agricultural commissioner, puts the county’s toll at $2 million, with half of that in lost or damaged grapevines on about 500 acres. Overall, farming in the county is worth about $350 million.

Napa’s agricultural losses are put so far at $4 million, mostly for replanting lost vines.