The Orange Blues

The full effects of the freeze that struck the Central Valley over the Christmas holidays are only now being detected in California’s Valencia orange crop. Losses of as much as 80% of the crop, worth a total of $150 million, are being reported in three counties alone. The freeze had already wiped out an estimated 75% of the important navel orange harvest.

Sometimes referred to as summer oranges, Valencias are normally harvested beginning in early April and picking continues almost until the navel orange harvest begins in the late fall.

Compared to the navel harvest, the Valencia crop is fairly small, roughly half the size. Of course, that still adds up to quite a bit in real terms: more than $135 million in annual sales alone in Tulare County, $43 million in Kern County and $21 million a year in Fresno County.

Just as important is the timing of the Valencia harvest. Because the harvest provides work for crews idled by the end of the navel season, its importance goes far beyond the sheer sales figures.

“The trickle-down effect of this will be major,” says Robert Vandergon, interim agricultural commissioner for Fresno County. “Packing house workers, pickers, all kinds of folks normally have work from April until October because of Valencias. There won’t be much work out there for them this year.”

That’s especially bad news in the Central Valley, already hurting from the economic impact of the loss of the navel orange harvest. Vandergon estimates that 14,000 workers were affected by that in his county, with roughly similar numbers affected in Kern and Tulare as well.

Unlike the navels, Valencias were still at a fairly early stage of their development when the freeze hit. The freeze caused the liquid-filled membranes within the oranges to burst but did little or no damage to the exterior.

In the old days, says Ted Davis, agricultural commissioner for Kern County, packers would float the oranges in water. Those that were freeze-damaged would be lighter and float to the top. Good, juicy oranges would be heavier and sink.

Today, several high-tech methods are used, including split-second weighing of each orange by computer and using a machine that can almost instantly measure the density of each orange as it rolls past on the packing line. But all that technology couldn’t save this year’s Valencias.