Place, Perception, and Choice: Response of Citrus Growers to Freeze in California

Abstract

Following a December 1998 freeze in the lower San Joaquin River Valley in central California, 1,250 Fresno, Kern, and Tulare county citrus growers were surveyed to examine the relationships between grower characteristics, mitigation efforts, freeze impacts, and growers’ intentions to modify land use. A 14.5% response rate was achieved from the survey mailing providing 182 completed surveys for analysis. Damages exceeded $700 million, but were not as great as in the 1990 freeze that hit this region. Orchard-freeze risk and growers’ mitigation efforts were predicted by a number of factors, including the geographic location, the size of the orchard, age of operation, and membership in cooperative organizations. Furthermore, previous experience with freeze events influenced growers’ propensity to mitigate. These factors reflect the perceptual framework within which growers responded to the onset of the event and also the likelihood that recovery would be needed. Insurance coverage was inversely related to mitigation action, perhaps demonstrating a regard for insurance as the best protection from calamitous losses. The certainty of disaster relief may reduce aggressive risk mitigation and may enable groves in freeze-prone areas.