new season 2019-2020

As we are finishing uo on the 2019 valencia crop, it is time to look forward to the 2019-20 season.  The current crop has a definately better feel than this best season in that the summer was more mild and the fruit size looks better.  The fruit set does not look as much as this past season, with the fruit possibly one size larger than last year; however, one size larger improvement will propably give us the same number of packed cartons as this previous season.

Fruit quality also looks very good for this new season with little insect damage and good fruit shape.  We are seeing a little more wind scar in those wind prone areas, but overall, very nice quality.  

It is hard to tell when this season will get started, but if we follow the grapes and stone fruit, it will be a little later than last year, but still towards the end of October.

2018-19 season

I did not think we could see so much difference from one season to another. With last year’s short crop, large sizes and a strong export market versus this season of a huge crop of very small sizes and a limited export market due to tariffs in China

With our navels, caras, mandarins and bloods complete for the season we are all taking a huge breath to recover from a very hard season of low pricing.  Most growers will only see less returns per acre and not realize the amazing amount of time and effort our group put in to move through this crop of small, non holding fruit.

A big thank you goes out to all the employees of Gillette Citrus for their tireless work moving through this crop and to our growers for trusting us with the many crazy ideas we had to move as much of this crop as fast as we could

We are very happy with our returns on a competitive basis, and although not near last year’s returns they are much better than our competition.

We would also like to thank our domestic and export customers who helped us move through this demanding crop.

Farming is never easy but for sure it is not boring.  We will see how the Valencia crop finishes up and pray for a good set of large fruit for next season

2017-18 navel season

The 2017-18 season is rapidly approaching and should prove to be a banner year.  Although the crop is off from last year by 8% to 10%, fruit size and quality are as good as we have seen in a while.  

We were blessed with abundant rain fall this past winter and it has made our job of farming this crop a lot easier.  The results are healthy trees and good sized fruit to start the season.  Early testing show that the start of the navel season could be a week behind last season which would put the start around the 18th of October.  The 2017 valencias will finish about that time so hopefully there will be no gap in supply.  We will know more about the eating quality when we get closer to harvest in October, stay tuned...

China reopens to California Citrus

California Citrus Exporters,

The California Citrus Quality Council (CCQC) is contacting you to advise the industry that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHS) has signed an agreement with China’s quarantine regulatory authority (AQSIQ) to reopen the Chinese market to California citrus effective today.  The agreement will be valid for two years, covering the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons.   If necessary, an additional agreement will be signed for the 2016-2017 season depending on an evaluation of the previous two seasons.  Additionally, Chinese technical officers will visit California in the first year to “conduct supervision and inspection” of Phytophthora mitigation measures applied to California citrus.

To comply with the agreement, the California industry must implement the following measures:

• ·         Skirt prune trees
• ·         Harvest only fruit that is higher than 50 cm (20 inches) from the ground
• ·         Monitor for Phytophthora
• ·         Apply at least one copper application after the first rainfall
• ·         Make preventative copper applications based on rainfall, temperature and Phytophthora infection rate
• ·         Packinghouses must screen and remove decayed fruit
• ·        
• ·        

We expect AQSIQ to closely monitor California citrus shipments on arrival, not only for Phytophthora infections, but pesticide residues.  We urge packinghouses to take every precaution to ensure that shipments meet all of China’s regulatory requirements.

CCQC, Sunkist and Citrus Mutual would like to acknowledge and thank APHIS and UC Riverside’s Jim Adaskaveg for their outstanding contributions in reopening the market.

Please contact me by telephone at (530) 885-1894 or via e-mail at jcranney@calcitrusquality.org if you have questions or need additional information.

Regards,

Jim

California Citrus Quality Council

853 Lincoln Way, Suite 206

Auburn, CA 95603

Tel:  (530) 885-1894

Fax: (530) 885-1546

James R. Cranney, President: jcranney@calcitrusquality.org

Carleen Price, Executive Assistant: cprice@calcitrusquality.org

http://www.calcitrusquality.org

Employee training, G.A.P. audits and export requirements

Thank you to all of our Growers who participated in last month’s Heat Safety Training and Tractor and ATV safety classes.  The turnout was very good for both meetings with most employers and their employees attending.  We will continue to hold these meetings every year.  Thank you to Buckman-Mitchell Insurance for sponsoring the two meetings.

Many of the preliminary Good Agricultural Practices (G.A.P.) audits are complete and most others have scheduled their audits.  We thank all of you for taking the time to become Global GAP certified. We realize that you are all doing most of this work anyway as part of your daily routine, but to document and allow the audits is very helpful in our efforts to stay at the forefront of ensuring our customers that they are receiving a safe product that is sustainably grown.

Please remember that all blocks need to be skirt pruned in order to participate in export shipments for the 2014-15 year.  Specifically, fruit for export to China cannot be picked under 20 inches but we believe this is a good requirement for all export destinations.  Copper sprays will again be required and we will keep you posted on the timing of these sprays.