Multi-challenges for the California citrus industry aside, the state’s 2015/16 navel orange season was poised to get underway relatively early this year.
The CDFA issued its annual pre-season estimate in mid-September, which called for a crop of 86m cartons (18kg), with 83m cartons expected from the San Joaquin Valley.
Not all in the industry agree with that figure, however.“Most industry observers see this thing coming in around 80m, or up about +/-2 per cent of last year’s crop,” says industry veteran Tom Wollenman.
“The CDFA probably is not taking into account the full impact of the drought as there have been a large amount of navel groves removed since last season. Also, the dry conditions have kept the fruit from growing as much as it could – although that may change if we get a wet winter.”
Even with a lack of ground moisture, the CDFA still expects fruit sizing to be somewhat larger than in 2014/15.
“Fruit sizing looks fairly similar to last season,” says Dan Kass of Wonderful Citrus. “There should be ample availability of medium to large fruit with the size curve peaking on count 72, 56 and then 88.”
According to industry reports, fruit sugars were ahead of last year’s levels, enabling initial picking of the season to commence in mid-October. The first exports to Asia are expected to begin by mid-November.
The other major California citrus crop already well underway is lemons. The USDA estimates that of the 42.2m cartons (18kg) harvested in the US during the 2015/16 season, 39m cartons, or 92 per cent, will come from California, with the balance produced in Arizona.
Although production from the desert regions appears to be down significantly from last season, fruit quality doesn’t seem to be an issue.
“The expectation is that the tree crop will be lighter in the desert this year by 15 to 20 per cent versus last year,” says John Carter of the Limoneira Company. “However, quality looks to be better, which will improve utilisation. The San Joaquin Valley looks to have a crop size similar to last year with good quality. The Ventura-Oxnard area is a little far out to predict. The wild card across all of the growing areas, of course, will be Mother Nature and the amount of rain we receive this winter.”
According to Carter, speaking in mid-October, early pack-out trends from the desert show that lemons are running to the large side, as is fruit in the San Joaquin Valley. Initial picking in that district should get underway over the next few weeks.
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