More than a third of the estimated crop of California table grapes was lost when Hilary struck the area right around the time of peak harvest season.
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00:00 Let's talk about when Hurricane Hillary moved over Southern California last month because
00:05 it brought a lot of heavy rainfall with it, plus some flooding.
00:09 It happened just as California's table grape vineyards were at risk for a peak harvest.
00:15 The California Table Grape Commission calls the damage to the grapes devastating and heartbreaking.
00:21 Joining us from California Table Grape Commission is Ian LeMay.
00:26 Ian, can you tell us how Hillary impacted the grapes?
00:30 Yes, well, it's a pleasure to be with you today, this afternoon.
00:37 Thank you for highlighting the impacts associated with Hurricane Hillary.
00:42 The reality is that when California growers get rain during this time, peak harvest, rain
00:51 and ripe fruit don't mix.
00:54 And unfortunately, in the primary areas of California where we grow California table
01:00 grapes and California stone fruit, we received an inch to two inches of rain that led to
01:08 some significant crop loss across the Central Valley.
01:12 We are still doing our best to bring as much of that crop off the vine and off the tree
01:19 and back to the consumer, but this was an unfortunate event.
01:25 You were able to harvest some of those crops, but there was actually a large percentage
01:29 that weren't able to be harvested.
01:32 What exactly were the losses that we're talking about here?
01:40 So the formal assessment coming out of the commission and thus the industry was 25 million
01:46 boxes or equal to about 35% of the estimated crop.
01:53 Make no mistake, there still is a crop out there.
01:56 Historically, over 60% of California table grapes comes off the vine after Labor Day.
02:03 And so we're going to do our best to continue to harvest throughout the remainder of the
02:08 fall, but definitely a significant loss nonetheless.
02:13 Ian LeMay with the California Table Grape Commission, thank you for joining us.
02:19 Thank you.
02:20 Of course.