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Valencia Crop Unaffected By Freeze or Drought

Valencia 2014-03-10 at 3.07.50 PMA USDA estimate released this week suggests the California Valencia orange crop on the trees has been unaffected by either the drought or the freeze to date.

“Although the season has been very dry with an early December freeze in many areas, measurements are indicating that the crop has not been negatively impacted” says the report.

Not so with the current navel orange crop that is said to be down 5% according to a January estimate. A significant freeze in early December across California’s Central Valley impacted much of the citrus fruit.

The Valencia orange forecast in that same January report had been forecast at  23.0 million cartons – now a million cartons larger.

This year’s crop coming off the trees this Spring is forecast in this latest report at 24 million cartons, down one million cartons from last year. The set on trees is above the five year average but the land under production is 2000 fewer acres than the year before. More citrus growers are switching away from Valencias to newer tangerine and navel types.

The Valencia acreage has ben declining since 2000 when there were some 68,00 acres under production – now approaching half that. The diameter of the fruit this year is above average says USDA.

Often called summer oranges Valencia variety are actually available from February through October, with peak supplies in May, June and July. Valencia oranges are small to medium sized, and they may have a few seeds. They are usually thin-skinned and are popular for juice .

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