California’s orange crop dips after huge 2016, but navel oranges still sweet

Oranges, California’s signature winter crop, come rolling into stores this month during peak citrus season. The quality will be good, the flavor excellent. The only problem? There’s not as many as last year.

Coming off a bumper crop, California’s navel orange trees are in the midst of a down cycle.

“The trees got tired,” said Joel Nelsen, president of the California Citrus Mutual, which represents about 2,500 growers. “We’re significantly down this year.”

Last season’s California navel orange harvest totaled more than 94 million cartons, about 3.76 billion pounds. This season, the growers expect 84 million cartons — a 400 million-pound drop.

“Last year, we had such a huge crop, the trees needed to take a break,” said Nelsen, adding that such cycles are normal for citrus. “But there’s still plenty of fruit to go around. Fresh California oranges will be available well into June.”

While Florida produces juice oranges, California is still America’s fresh citrus king, supplying about 80 percent of the nation’s fresh oranges, lemons and other citrus, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We’re the No. 1 fresh citrus-producing state,” Nelsen said. “Navel oranges, mandarins and lemons; those are our top three.”

While much of that fruit will be eaten out of hand, oranges are extremely versatile, too. Native to China, oranges flavor foods around the world, from salads and stir fries to cakes and sherbets.

Navels — the winter orange — have been popular in California since 1873, when the state’s first Washington navel was planted in Riverside. William Saunders, the USDA’s first botanist, developed the Washington navel at his greenhouses in Washington, D.C.; hence the name. More than 140 years later, the Washington navel is still the industry’s dominant variety.

Every Washington navel orange tree in California — all 125,000 acres of them — are descendents of that parent tree. Because navel oranges are sterile, new trees are produced from grafted cuttings.

So far this winter, the weather has been ideal for navel oranges, Nelsen said.

“The weather actually has been just right — cold but not too cold,” he said. “Oranges need a ‘kiss of chill,’ nights under 32 degrees (Fahrenheit) but above 28 degrees. The color is more vibrant. The chill also strengthens the skin, so the fruit lasts longer (off the tree).”

In the heart of California’s citrus belt, Tulare County grows the most navels, followed by Kern, Fresno and Riverside counties.

Meanwhile, Valencia oranges — the summer or juice variety — are getting squeezed out.

“California production of Valencias has fallen dramatically due to competition from offshore imports,” Nelsen said. “We used to grow 60,000 acres; now it’s about 20,000 acres.”

Instead, more mandarins — those easy-peeling Cuties, Smiles and Halos — are coming online in a big way. More than 60,000 acres are now producing mandarins. Interest in those “little oranges” helped boost overall citrus sales and demand for more.

In addition, industry efforts have improved the taste of navel oranges, Nelsen noted. Today’s oranges really are sweeter.

“About five years ago, we put in standards to guarantee better tasting, more consistent fruit,” he said. “It worked. People came back and bought it more readily. Team that with the excitement over Cuties, oranges and mandarins are doing pretty well.