News
December was a cold — and expensive — month for California citrus growers, but navel, mandarin and other crops came through with flying colors. In fact, the cold likely helped them.
That’s the message from Exeter, Calif.-based California Citrus Mutual, which released a frost protection cost estimate Dec. 22. Growers spent about $62.5 million during the month on water, wind machines and other crop protection methods, according to the organization.
With a few exceptions, citrus growers did something almost every night in December to fight the effects of cold, said Bob Blakely, Citrus Mutual’s director of industry affairs.
Wind machines ran more hours in December than a year ago, and fuel and energy costs are up this year, Blakely said. About 16,300 wind machines are available for use in the San Joaquin Valley.
While the low temperatures have been costly, they’ve also added color and hardened trees and fruit so that they can survive the cold better in January, Blakely said.
Oranges in particular have excellent color at the end of the month. The cold also is a nice insurance policy against pest and disease pressure.
Quality has been excellent thus far, in part because of the abundant cold days, said Fred Berry, director of marketing for Mulholland Citrus, Orange Cove, Calif.
In addition, low rainfall has reduced the risk of rind-related quality issues, Berry said.
The cold weather did not alter the industry’s volume projections for the season, Blakely said. About 88 million cartons of navels are expected, down from 96 million in 2010-11.
Although the estimate is within the upper range of an average-size crop, it’s still well shy of last year’s record crop of 96 million cartons.
“There’s always the likelihood of an isolated cold spot that has some problems, but we haven’t had any damage to speak of,” he said. “We had a series of nights that were right on the edge of where, if it was a degree or two less, there could have been the potential of battling some damage.”
Looking ahead, the forecast for the week of Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 was “pretty good” as of Dec. 22, Blakely said.
The week of Dec. 19, California citrus harvests were still playing a catch-up after delays of two or three weeks in the start of the deal, Blakely said.
“About 16-17% has been harvested, and it’s usually 20-25% by now,” Blakely said Dec. 22.
That said, California citrus exports were actually up over the year before as of Dec. 22. Strong export demand was helping drive overall demand for California fruit in late December, he said.
Demand for Mulholland’s satsumas was so strong in December, the company will likely run out before its murcotts are ready for harvest, Berry said.
“There could be a little gap,” he said. Mulholland’s satsuma deal should wind down by mid-January.
|
ThePacker.com Home News Leadership Video Opinion Careers About Us Advertise |
Other Websites The Grower Produce Retailer Red Book Credit Services Produce Market Guide Greenbook |
©2012 Vance Publishing Corporation Terms of Use Privacy Policy Copyright 
|
Comments (0)
Leave a comment