Start of the 2010-11 Navel Season

The 2010-11 navel season has begun.  Picking started the end of October on fukomoto varieties in Kern County with the Washington varieties starting this week.  The fruit shows excellent sugar - acid ratios with color lagging slightly behind.  Current fruit size is smaller than last year with the fruit peaking on 113-88 and 138 sizes.  Quality is excellent and flavor seems to be excellent again this year.  The current rain storms and a lack of labor have caused some delays in harvest but this has allowed the fruit to color up and make for better utilization.

2010 - 2011 Navel Orange Forecast

The California Agricultural Statistic Service (CASS) has released the 2010-2011 navel orange forecast.  The initial estimate is 93 million 40 pound carton equivalents, with 90 million cartons forecast in District 1 (the central valley).  Weather conditions and survey results indicate a greater fruit set than past years but with significant smaller sizes.  The fruit set for District 1 is 40% more than last year but the cartons per acre are only up 10%, which indicates many pieces of fruit per carton, i.e..small sizes. 

For the complete report please visit

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Fruits_and_Nuts/201009navom.pdf

This crop will be less than the 2005/06 District 1 crop of 92 million and slightly more than the 2007/08 District 1 crop of 88 million. This past 2009/10 season produced 80 million District 1 cartons.

Another interesting note is these numbers also include cara caras. blood oranges and other which have unofficially been estimated at 3 million cartons.

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)