The impact of drought continues to take its toll on California’s navel crop, with fruit sizing down on average, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) navel orange objective measurement report.
As of 1 September, the average diameter of the state’s fruit was 2.205 inches, below the five-year average of 2.256 inches. The survey data indicated fruit set per tree was at 333, above the five-year average of 328.
The initial forecast for California’s 2014-15 navel season is for a packout of 81m cartons, of which 78m cartons are estimated to come from the state’s Central Valley.
The CDFA’s report was based on a sample of 575 navel groves, randomly selected proportional to county and variety bearing acreage, of which 534 groves were utilised in a survey.
