Aquatic Excellence

Justin Lopez Lamb, son of our Sales and Operations Manager, Jim Lamb, has garnered huge praise this past year for his accomplishments in both water polo and swimming.  Justin was selected as the Visalia Times Delta boys Swimmer of the year for the second year in a row.  He is also very accomplished in water polo and was named to both the Fresno Bee's all-Bee swimming and water polo teams.  Justin will be attending Fresno Pacific College this fall and will be swimming at the collegiate level. 

WATER POLO

need to know: The East Yosemite League MVP and first-team All-Valley selection powered the Emperors to the Central Section Division II final with 115 goals, 22 assists and 87 steals. The career 349-goal scorer is considering a college career at Pepperdine, Occidental or Cal Lutheran.

He said it: "He's the pivot for everything. Every offensive possession goes through him, whether he's on the perimeter or in the hole. A lot of our guys get wide-open shots because of the double- and triple-teams he faces." — Dinuba coach Kyle Yano-Goss

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2009/12/30/1764970/justin-lopez-lamb.html#ixzz0yVSJsksH

SWIMMING

Vitals: Dinuba, senior, 100 free, 100 back, 200 free relay, 400 free relay

He's qualified because: Narrowly missed All-America consideration time while winning 100 back, finishing in 52.95, 0.05 seconds off mark. Two-time All-Bee swimmer was third in 100 free in 47.55, missing consideration time by less than a second. Was an All-Bee selection in water polo, too, after scoring 115 goals last season and 349 for career. Only boy to make All-Bee in both aquatic sports. Will swim for Fresno Pacific next season.

He said it: “He did an excellent job in racing the people he needed to race. He was also a leader to the team. all the boys looked up to him. Whatever he did, everyone else followed.” — Dinuba coach Tommy Radtke

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/06/29/1989061/justin-lopez-lamb.html#storylink=mirelated#ixzz0yVS03SJv

OLD CROP / NEW CROP

As we begin the final stretch of our valencia season we are also looking forward to the new crop of navels hanging on the trees. 

Most years we harvest one half to two thirds of our valencias before July and then we shut down for six to eight weeks or until the demand for the remaining medium to small sizes picks up.  This year is no different and we have resumed packing our remaining valencias this week. The fruit has sized some this summer but as we picked on the large sizes earlier this spring, the remaining fruit is mostly 88's and smaller.  As a result of the cool summer, fruit condition is good and we are having to color sort about a third of the fruit so condition remains strong for shipments.  We are also shipping fresh picked fruit as opposed to stored fruit.  We should have valencias available through mid to late October and we will then transition into navels.

The upcoming navel crop looks good.  Fruit set is more than last year with a slightly smaller size structure.  Size will depend on the weather over the next few months to see just how much growth we will get.  The California Agricultural Statistic Service (CASS) crop projection should be released by September 10th and this will give us a better look at the upcoming set and size for all districts.  Quality looks great with very round fruit with good texture. We will continue to update the navel size structure and maturity as we move into fall.

2010 CA CITRUS ACREAGE REPORT RELEASED

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the results of the 2010 California Citrus Acreage Survey. The detailed acreage numbers are based on the information obtained from questionnaires set to the approximately 4,300 citrus growers in the NASS database. It represents the most detailed information available, but probably not absolutely complete because it does not capture first-time growers with new plantings and any growers that are not yet in the NASS database. And because the survey is voluntary it is unlikely that it achieves one hundred percent participation. This year for the first time NASS included a table of the estimated bearing acreage for navel oranges. To arrive at this number NASS compares the citrus acreage database with Census of Agriculture data, which requires mandatory participation, and pesticide application data from the counties and the Department of Pesticide Regulation. In the case of navel oranges the estimated bearing acreage is 8,531 acres or 7% higher than the detailed acreage number. NASS will release estimated bearing acreage numbers for the other citrus varieties in October.

According to the Detailed Acreage Survey, the total number planted citrus acres was virtually unchanged from the 2008 survey, increasing by only 445 acres. However, there were significant shifts in acreage by variety and county. Citrus acreage in most of the major citrus producing counties declined, only Tulare and Kern Counties gained citrus acreage. Tulare County has 39 percent of the total citrus acreage, remaining far and away the largest citrus growing county in California, with 105,759 acres up 565 acres from 2008. Kern County, a distant second, with 57,963 planted acres saw its acreage increase by 4,479 acres from 2008 to 2010. The largest decrease in acreage was in Ventura County, which lost 2,087 of citrus during the two-year period.

Acreage of all citrus varieties, with the exception of mandarins, decreased between 2008 and 2010. In total mandarin acreage was up 23.67%, an increase of 7,432 acres, exceeding by 445 acres the decline in all other varieties combined.

Change In Planted Acreage Between 2008 and 2010 - by Variety:

Grapefruit -179 Acres -1.97%         Lemons -2,093 Acres - 4.49%

Limes -25 Acres -5.02%                  Navels -2,541 Acres - 1.85%

Valencias -1,932 Acres -4.34%       Pummelos -217 Acres -12.08%

Mandarins 7,432 Acres 23.67%

(from california citrus mutual)

Snow Camping

It happens every spring; Jay Gillette and his wife Kelley take a snow camping trip into the local mountains. This trip they were in the mountains for seven days and enjoyed the Sierra Nevada’s at their finest. We have included more photos of their trip on the photos page, and if you look close you will see Tom Mulholland’s plane approached to make a provision’s drop to make the trip more enjoyable. Wine was dropped in a rubber bag and came through without a dropped spilled, the mandarins, avocados and cookies (all in the same bag) did not fare as well and became a very unique salad. Jay said the weather was perfect and the skiing was even better.

Petal Fall

This is the time of the year known in citrus as "petal fall".  The blossoms have ran their course and have now fallen from the trees.  This is a very important time to watch the trees for citrus thrips that do the most cosmetic damage to citrus. Once the blossoms all drop, these tiny pests will move to the fruit and attack the rind of the orange (currently the size of a pea) and can scar the fuit which leads to downgrading to choice or juice. 

This is also the time of the year that can make or break next year's crop.  If the weather is very hot over the next six weeks, fruit will drop; however if it stays cools like we have experienced so far this spring, too much fruit will "set" and this could lead to a large crop of smaller fruit.  Only time will tell.  Stay tuned.