Crop Losses Could Set Records

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Ventura County farmers lost a record $281 million in crops and nursery stock during a recent cold snap, while the state’s overall losses could top $1 billion, officials said Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.


The new Ventura County figure, nearly triple that of an earlier estimate, takes into account the loss of high-value commodities , such as strawberries, raspberries and costly landscaping plants , that were not fully assessed for damage until this week, county Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail told the Board of Supervisors.


Losses now far exceed the $128 million recorded after a two-day freeze in December 1990 and $74 million in the winter of 1998. When factoring in job losses and slowdowns at packinghouses, shippers and grocery stores, Ventura County’s economy has taken a hit close to $750 million, McPhail said.

About 30% of respondents to the survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, or Afire, said they would be investing this year in new property types in the U.S., such as senior and student housing, resorts, storage facilities and infrastructure such as highways. The Washington-based nonprofit organization polled about 50 of its members, who own $601 billion of real estate globally, including $184 billion in the U.S. Organization members include pension funds, insurance companies and real-estate funds from countries including the U.S., Germany, Britain and Australia.



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