Production survey records higher fruit set and bigger sizes for 2025/26
California’s 2025/26 Valencia orange crop is expected to weigh in at 17mn 40lb cartons, according to the 2025/26 Valencia Orange Objective Measurement Survey, which was conducted from 10 January to 10 February.
The forecast was prepared by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Survey data indicated an average fruit set per tree of 657, a 19 per cent increase from the previous year and 18 per cent above the five-year average of 557.
The average March 1 diameter was 2.555 inches, up 7 per cent from the previous year and 5 per cent higher than the five-year average of 2.445.
According to the forecast, California has 24,500 bearing acres of Valencia oranges. There is an average of 124 trees per acre.
In 2024/25, 14.6mn cartons of Valencia oranges were produced, compared to a forecast of 15mn cartons. Production in 2023/24 was 18.6mn cartons, compared to a forecast of 16mn cartons.
California Valencia production has gradually declined since 2011/12’s 28mn carton crop.
For the current forecast, a sample of 330 Valencia orange groves were randomly selected proportional to acreage, county, year planted and variety representation in the state, with 313 of these groves being utilized in the survey. The sampled groves were primarily in the top Valencia orange-producing counties of Tulare, Kern, San Diego and Ventura.
The full forecast report can be found here.
