Good news for orange growers
After a slow start, the Valencia orange harvest has picked up.
The California Farm Bureau says demand for the summer orange variety has increased in the domestic market, now that the California navel orange harvest has ended. A government report says most Valencias harvested earlier in the season were sold to export markets.
The report forecasts that California farms will produce 32 million cartons of Valencia oranges this season, up 39% from a year ago.
California Valencias are hot for two reasons.
The low value of the dollar compared with other currencies has juiced exports of California fruit. Additionally, hurricanes and citrus diseases in Florida have slashed that state's orange production in recent years. California agricultural officials are worried that one of those problems, citrus greening disease, could strike California's citrus groves because the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny insect that spreads the disease, was discovered in residential orange trees recently just blocks south of the border in Tijuana.
--Jerry Hirsch
photo by Anne Cusack / LA Times
