While Florida remains the top US state for citrus production,that state’s orange acreage has declined in the past decade while California’s citrus acreage has diversified and grown. Per acre the Golden State’s smaller citrus crop is far more valuable.
Much of that growth came in Tulare County indicates USDA in their latest citrus acreage report. The report says Tulare County’s citrus acreage by main category in 2012 stands at 71,455 acres of navels,15,742 acres of Valencias, 5257 acres of lemons and 12,358 acres of mandarins.
By comparison, in 2004 when the USDA did another acreage survey Tulare County had 64,360 acre of navels,15,413 acres of Valencias,3600 acres of lemons and only 4826 acres of mandarins. These four main citrus varieties are up about 16,000 acres in the county in the past 8 years.
The fastest growing category are mandarins – varieties of tangerines that came to the market through UC and industry research. Statewide, mandarin acreage has doubled from the 2004 survey from 21,799 to nearly 43,000 acres in 2012.
Within that category it has been the the success of the seedless, easy peel, Tango variety that catches the eye with a 2004 acreage at just 52 acres jumping to 5780 acres this year of with 2556 acres of young trees not yet producing. Some 1600 acres of the tango variety were planted in 2010 by growers in a fever pitch to plant.
Within the mandarin citrus category Kern County leads the state with 15,013 acres compared to Tulare’s 12,358 says USDA.
For some reason the USDA figures do not jibe with the Tulare County crop report for 2011 that shows more navels in the county than USDA at 78,000 acres and more mandarin varieties coupled with tangelos at 15,425 acres.The value of the Tulare County citrus crop approaches $750 million. The ag commissioner’s report lists total citrus acres in the county at 119,086. In 2011, USDA says California citrus acreage was 267,000 acres so Tulare County accounts for about 45% of all California production.
Citrus growers appear to be experimenting more with niche citrus fruit with the acreage of “other” in the survey growing faster in recent years as non fruit-bearing acres.
Impacted by Hurricanes, freezes and menacing citrus diseases- the more tropical in climate Florida has seen its citrus production drop from around 300,000 boxes of fruit in the late 1990s to 159,000 boxes in 2010 and an estimated 146,500 boxes this year, a decline of better than 50%.
USDA says California citrus production this year should be around 58,000 boxes.
While Florida’s citrus production far eclipses California, most the fruit is processed to orange juice while the more valuable fresh eating citrus crop is only a third the size of California’s fresh offerings. USDA says California’s fresh tonnage adds up to 3 million tons vs Florida’s 787 thousand tons in 2011. So the value of California’s total citrus production at $1.3 billion is only slightly smaller in value than Florida’s total of $1.5 billion
Reports so far are favorable about the sizing and quantity of this falls citrus crop.
Of course, California has its own boom and bust periods in citrus. In 1946 just 16% of the state’s citrus acreage was in Central California and now Orange County has very few oranges. Some nasty freezes of our own saw citrus production fall abruptly and tristeza and worries about citrus greening continue to cast a big shadow here.