In last week's big storm, thousands of almond trees were knocked down from the heavy winds. "Whenever we have a storm like this, where the wind comes out of the southeast, we can always expect to find more damage, especially in the older orchards," Clinton Shick, a farmer in the McFarland area, said Monday.

Shick said he lost about 60 trees in a 35-acre block. He knows other farmers who lost anywhere between 200 to 500 trees. While this might seem like a large number, Clinton said it only comes out to about a .5 percent to 2 percent loss.

"It's not the catastrophic kind of loss that we have had in years past. If it was earlier in the year and during the growing season, it could cause more problems. If it's going to happen, this was a good time for it to happen," said Clinton.

Ag Commissioner Ruben Arroyo said they are still trying to get a better estimate of the damage.

"Right now, we're looking at anywhere between .05 to 5 percent damage, depending on where you were in the county. Overall, it's not a significant number depending on where you were and if it's your own orchard," said Arroyo.

Farmers who had trees blow over are now cleaning up the damage.

"When they're estimating the loss, they're estimating the loss in the nuts they were going to produce on top of the replacement of the trees. So, depending on how many acres they loss, it could potentially lead into some numbers that are substantial," said Arroyo.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/