California Fall Fruit business updates

Sunkist to expand organic citrus

Citrus buyers can expect to see more organics from Valencia, Calif.-based Sunkist Growers.

"The organic citrus category is growing quickly, and Sunkist's growers are expanding production of organics to help our customers capitalize growing demand," Joan Wickham, director of communications, said Aug. 10. "With more acreage coming into production this season, we are excited about the prospects of this expanding category."

The company will soon begin a new season of conventional and organic citrus.

Valencia oranges, grapefruit and lemons are all available from Sunkist in the fall months.

"The 2016-2017 citrus season will kick off in late October to early November, depending on weather conditions, with navel oranges beginning to ship in late October or early November," Wickham said.

Satsuma mandarins usually begin harvest in October. Sunkist's cara cara navel oranges typically start shipping in early December. Meyer lemons are available year-round, with shipments for the new season starting in October.

Strawberries enjoy summer bump

Fresh strawberry volume in July exceeded year-ago numbers in California, although year-to-date numbers trailed 2015.

For the week ending July 30, 5.4 million trays shipped compared to 4.3 million in 2015. That pattern held throughout the month. The yearly total still lagged, 129.1 million to 143.5 million, but retailers were enjoying an opportunity to make up for some sales declines in the spring.

Strawberries started later in 2016 thanks to an El Niño winter; the rains ultimately benefited the crop.

Most of the fruit, 60.5 million trays, has come from Watsonville and Salinas. Volumes in the northern district were expected to steadily decrease ahead of transitions to other growing regions. The Oppenheimer Group and others planned to focus on Oxnard production starting in October. Naturipe Farms will have strawberry production out of Mexico and Florida in November.

California Giant Berry Farms, which added a new Santa Maria strawberry crop to its summer and fall program, reports fall acreage is up about 20% over 2015 to meet increased demand.

Cara cara navel plantings rise

The pink-fleshed cara cara navel offered by Sunkist Growers, LoBue Citrus and other shippers is still a niche item in the citrus category, but a report released Aug. 4 suggests producers find it increasingly marketable.

The state citrus acreage report from the California Department of Food and Agriculture shows there are 963 nonbearing acres of cara cara navels in 2016, plus 5,329 in production.

That ratio means plantings have surged in recent years.

"That's quite a few acres of new plantings on a percentage basis," said Chris Stambach, director of industry relations for Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual. "There's good demand for the variety and I expect that to continue. Cara cara is a great piece of fruit that growers have had good success with."

Cara cara comes on the market in December.

Blood oranges, a smaller niche item, have 548 bearing and 193 nonbearing acres, according to the report.

Significant percentage gainers include mandarins and their hybrids, with 8,554 nonbearing and 50,387 bearing acres; and lemons with 3,134 nonbearing and 41,487 bearing acres. Grapefruit and valencia oranges are comparatively flat. Limes have only a modest presence in California with combined acreage of 631.

"A lot of guys are looking at more exotic stuff to diversify their fruit mix and try to get better returns, because the mid-to-late navel market has been tough on them," Stambach said.

Jasmine Vineyards to expand pack options

Delano, Calif.-based Jasmine Vineyards plans to have some new grape packs available before the end of the 2016 season.

"We're enhancing our clamshell line with some sealable bags and punnets," said Jon Zaninovich, president. "For field pack, we continue to do everything in pouches. The biggest thing we're doing is making some modifications on our pack line. We're adding a bag sealing station and a punnet sealing station where we'll be able to have a fixed weight program. We'll have some available this season."

Pomegranate juice market remains weak

California pomegranate growers who'd like more outlets for their crop aren't getting much love from the juice market.

"Juice has been steady the last few years, but not in a good way," said Jeff Simonian, sales manager at Fowler, Calif.-based Simonian Fruit. "It's still pretty lousy. It's about $50 a ton, which is at or below cost for what it would take to pick it for juice."

Producers used to make an extra pick just for juice – but not so often anymore.

"Growers will often leave fruit behind, but to go back and pick it for juice doesn't pay," Simonian said. "You either break even or lose money. We pack it all for fresh, and whatever's left goes to juice. Some growers do arils on fruit that can make it, and if not, it goes to juice."

Juice pricing has been kinder to California valencia oranges. As Florida struggles with huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, fresh juicers are turning a little more often to the West Coast.

"You get some premium quality valencia juice in August, September and October and it really holds the price up," said Chris Stambach, director of industry relations for California Citrus Mutual.

That pricing floor has helped to stabilize acreage for valencias, which aren't as popular in the fresh market as they once were.

More than a third of the state's valencia crop goes to juice.