New season and a new crop.

 As a farmer, it is always the excitement of what might come, how nice and sweet your crop is, how good the market is, and most importantly maybe it will rain. These are the good and bad of farming, but like most jobs, a lot of it is out of your control. We have just received our first rain after a very dry past season, so we are optimistic and we are enjoying the snowcapped Sierras.

This past year gave us one of the shortest crop volume years in recent history.  Most citrus varieties other than lemons were short which presented many challenges to both the growers and the retailers.  Luckily the fruit was strong and we were able to supply our customers throughout the year.

This year’s navel and mandarin crops are better. Navels are up 15% to 20% over last year with excellent quality and flavor.  We began harvest earlier than past years due to the higher-than-normal sugar content.  The flavor profile is also excellent this year due to a very good sugar to acid ratio.

We have been harvesting and shipping navels for over 4 weeks with very good market acceptance and reorders.  We are looking, as always, to a good navel season.