.11.7.

The CaliforniaCitrus Industry

W. P. Bitters

Californiawas destinedto becnmeiI citrus producingarea from the very moment the Spanishpadres entered what is now California in 1769. This was n~arly 200 yearsafter citrus wasfirst introduced into Florida when St. Augustinewas founded in 1565. The Spanishpadre5 spread citrus northward by seedfrom missionto missionas they slowly colonizednorthward in their expansionfrom Mexico. The first actual orangeorchard consisted of a few seedlingsplanted in 1803 at San Gabriel Mission. The first commercialorchard was planted in 1834 at Los Angelesby Louis Vignes. The famousWolfskill orchardin downtown Los Angeleswas planted in 1841. All of the orchardswhich followed were alsoseedling orchards. The 'Washington' navelorange was introduced into Riverside,California in 1873and the 'Valencia' orangeat San Gabrielin 1876. Both were superiorvarieties to anything previouslygrown. Thus arosethe first namedvarieties which led to the necessityof propagation by budding rather than seeds.These introductions not only emphasizedthe importanceof varietal selectionbut the successof the varietiesgave impetus to the plant introduction program. The SouthernPacific Railroadwas completed to Los Angelesin 1876and the first carload of citrus fruit wasshipped from the Wolfskill orchard in 1877. Up until this time only a few hundred acresof seedlingtrees existed. The primary purposein growingfruit wasto supply fresh fruit by shippingit northward to San Franciscoand then into the mother lode country wherethe minersmarket wasvery lucrative. The improvedcultivars that the "~"Jashington'navel and the 'Valencia' providedplus the meansof shippingby railroad to the profitable marketsof the midwest andeast stimulated new plantings. Soil, water, and climate were most favorableand rapid expansionof plantingstook place throughout the Los Angelesbasin. During the late 1800'sand early 1900'sthe Florida and Californiacitrus acreagesdeveloped parallelto one anotherwith Florida holding the edgein acreageand Californiamaintaining a slight edgein production. The last year California'scitrus acreageexceeded Florida's was in the 1931.32season when Californiahad 249,600 acresand Florida had246,500 acres. Since that time Florida'sacreage has greatly exceededthat of California. However,California's production exceededthat of Florida's in 1944-45when it produced76,880,000 boxes to 69,350,000boxes for Florida. Now, of course, Californiaproduces about 1/4 asmuch fruit as Florida, lastyear's figure being roughly 65,000,000boxes for California and 225,000,000boxes for Florida. In 1945.46 Californiahad its peakacreage of 330,088acres with 7,958 non-bearingacres. Roughlyspeaking 2.1/2% of the acreagewas non-bearingat that time. Immediatelyafter the war, due to the increasedpressures of industry and urbanization,the inroadsof tristeza,and tree and fruit lossesas a result of the freezesof 1948and 1949 the changein citrus acreagewas very abrupt. In a singleyear, 1948, the statelost nearly30,000 acres of bearingcitrus and the acreageplummetcd to a low of 230,357acres by 1956. Sincenew plantingswere madeduring the period, the net lossof bear- ing acreagewas greaterthan 100,000acres. In fact, from 1948-60,the mostdynamic period, the net lossof bearingtrees was 136,126acres. In 1946the principal citrus producingcounties in Californiawere Orangewith 77,683acres, Los Angeleswith 56,651acres and San Bernardinowith 46,983 acres. As of 1972,the latestdate for which figuresare available, Orange County had 14,531 acres,a loss of 63,152 acres,Los Angeles had 2,628 acres,a loss of 54,023 acres,and San Bernardino 17,909 acres, a loss of 29,074. Thus these3 countics from the period of 1946-1972had a net loss of 146,249acres. In 1946 southern Cali- fornia produced 84.2%of the state'sacreage but as of 1972 it grew only 51.1%of the state'sacreage with continued decline in acreageexpected. These lossesin acreagehad to be offset by acreagegains elsewhere. Some of thesegains took placein outlying countiesof the Los Angelesbasin. Thus. Riverside County increasedfrom 27.218 acresto 53.681 acres.a gain of 26.463 acres. and Ventura County increasedfrom 39,415 acresto 50.808 acres. a gain of 11.393 acres. The biggest gains, however. cccurred in central Californiawhere Tulare Countyincreased from 39,975acres to 93,013acres. a gain of 53.839 acres;Kern County in- creasedfrom 1.491 acresto 27,839 acres.a gain of 26.348 acres;Fresno County increasedfrom 3,613 acresto 24.789 acres. a gain of 21.176 acresand Madera from 0 acresto 4,062 acres. There, of course. have been smallergains elsewhere.As of 1972 Californiahas 64,887 non-bearing acres. about 20% of the total acreage.The bulk of thesenon-bearing acres lie in central California. The point I am trying to make is that the citrus industry is shifting from southernCalifornia to central California. CentralCalifornia. which possessedonly 16%of the acreagein 1946now hasnearly 50%of the acreageas of 1972. Moreover. yields are generallyheavier in central Californiathan southernCalifornia so that yield wise.central Californianow produces more than half of the total crop produced in California. This geographical shift in acreage may havea tremendousimpact on theseason of fruit maturityand marketingprocedures as they now exist.

California's citrus area is divided into 4 fairly distinct climatic lones in which there is a wide rangein diurnal temperatilreS, maximum and minimum temperature, and humidity. These climatic lones result in a wide range in degree of fruitfulness of varieties, their size and shape, quality, seasonof maturity and other fruit aspects. For practical purposes these climatic zones are referred to as Coastal, Interior Valleys, Desert, and Central Valley. The western part of the Los Angeles basin is thus Coastal and the eastern part is Interior. Between climatic lones seasonsof matllrity might vary from a few weeks to several .118- severalmonths with a maximumvariation of from 4 to 6 months dependingon variety. Florida for examplemight have a differenceof 2 weeksin time of maturity throughout the state. The wide rangein seasonof maturity in California has spreadout the marketingperiod for a variety suchas the navelor 'Valencia' orangeto covera period of as long as 9 months with someoverlap at the beginningand end of eachseason. This hasresulted in more orderly marketingand more economic pricesand minimizedthe needfor additional varietiessince fresh fruit is availablefor market the year around. However,in recentyears as just stated,the increasedurbanization and industrializationof the Coastaland Interior valleyshas greatly minimizedthe planted acreagethere and in future yearscould effect the completeelimination of suchplantings. This meansthat more fruit will be grown in fewer climatic zoneswith lessvariation in maturity. To put it briefly the so-called late holding districts will be lost to the industry. This will destroythe advantageCalifornia had in oncebeing able to grow early- and late-maturingvarieties in a mid-lateto late holding district. To hold fruit longerthan previouspractices allowed within a givenclimatic zone resultsin a seriousdeterioration of quality. This hasbeen offset somewhatthrough the useof goodcultural practices,improved rootstocks, and the useof growth regulators. The bestway to extend the seasonwithin a givendistrict is thru the selectionof new cultivars. This extensionmust be done in both directionswith the useof earlier. and later-maturingcultivars. With the navelorange some success has been obtained with earlierstrains such as the 'Tulegold' and 'Bonanza'which are beingwidely plantedand the useof the 'Newhall' which is seeinglittle planting. Little successhas beenachieved with a late-holdingnavel or a better quality late-holding'Valencia'. There is an acuteawareness of these problemsand efforts are beingmade to alleviatethem. To accomplishthis end the 'Lane Late' navelhas been recently intro. ducedfrom Australiaand we hope soon to haveit in quarantineand a little later, availablefor field testing. 'Lane' navel purportedly maturesas much as6 months later than a standardnavel. The 'Perry Valencias'have perhaps some value as a later-holding'Valencia'. It must be rememberedthat California'smarket is primarily a fresh fruit market and this fruit must haveboth eye appealand consumeracceptance. Let'stake anotherlook at the acreagefigures for 1946when the maximum plantingscomprised 330,088 acres. At that time there were 92,038 acresof navelswhich includedmiscellaneous sweet oranges and tangerinesfor 28% of the total acre- ages.There were 153,608acres of 'Valencias'or 47% of the total acreage.Grapefruit consisted of 14,839 acresor only 4% of the total. Lemonacreage was 68,848 acresor 21%of the total. Limesaccounted for lessthan 1% of the total acreage. The acreagefigures for 1972 show a 41% increasein navelacreage since 1946 for a total of 129,331acres or 41% of the 1972 acreage.'Valencia' orangeacreage has dropped to 94,635 Kres in 1972, a loss of 38%since 1946 and now comprisingonly 30% of the total. Clearlywe are growingmany more navelsthan everbefore and many lessacres of 'Valencias'. This reflects the tremendousloss in southernCalifornia acreage. Grapefruit now makesup 6% of the total acreageor 18,897acres up 27% over the 1946 figure. A good part of this is summergrapefruit. Lemonswith 59,778 acresconsist of 19%of the total acreage and representa lossof 13%from 1946 figures. Therewere no previousfigures for tangerinesbut they with 13,826 acresnow makeup 4% of the total 1972 acreage.There has thus beena major increasein navelacreage, slight increasesin grapefruit and tangerineacreage, a major lossin 'Valencia' orangeacreage and a moderateloss in lemon acreage.

It must again be pointed out that Californiacurrently has1/4 of its acreage64,887 in non.bearingacres but also that much of its bearingacreage is also of an agewhere it hasnot reachedfull production. Therefore,production within the next few yearsis expectedto increasematerially. A projection madeby Dr. R. C. Rock, Economist,Agricultural Extension, University of Californiaat Riversidegives some insight asto just what might be expectedin the next few years,projecting to 1978. While somefigures are for California/ArizonaI will try and emphasizethe Californiaside of the picture. Orangesproduced in these2 states,the bulk of which comefrom California,provide approximately60% of all orangesmarketed in fresh form in the United States. About 80%of California'sfruit endsup in the fresh fruit market and about 20%goes to products. In 1971.72 Califor- nia's tree crop in carloadequivalents, each carload of orangesequalling 1000 cartonsof 37-1/2 Ibs net, was41,600 carsof na- vels. The projectedfigure to 1977.78is 62,300 carloads,a changeof 400/0.This is broken down to 54,200 carsfor northern Californiaand 8,100 carsfor southernCalifornia clearly pointing out the preponderanceof navelorange production in the central Californiaarea. The 'Valencia' picture is slightly different. The 1971-72figure wasfor 38,600 carswhich is projected to 52,000cars by 1977.78,a changeof 25%. SouthernCalifornia will still producemore 'Valencias'than northern California by a rate of 28,000 carsto 24,000 carsbut the differencebetween them is rapidly decreasingand it is just a question of time beforenorthern California becomesthe principal producer. This will havequite an effect on the late-holding'Valencias' asso- ciated with southernCalifornia's crop.

California accountsfor over 90% of the total U.S.lemon production, the remainderis in Arizona. The bulk of the lemon production is in southernCalifornia. Overalllemon shipmentsare expectedto increasefrom 31,900 carsto 53,500 cars,a percentchange of 67%. Grapefruit is not a major variety grown in California. It is divided essentiallyinto desertgrapefruit -119- and summergrapefruit. The desertgrapefruit hasabout 3 times the production asthe summergrapefruit. Overallthe 1971-72 shipmentswere 15,700cars expected to increaseto 23,000 cars,a percentchange of 46%. By far the smallestcrops grown in Californiaare the tangerine,tangelo and tangor group. Currentproduction is 1,667 cars,expected to increaseto 2800 cars,a percentchange of 68%.

These production figuresas Rock saysare "basedon estimatedacreage, production, yield per acretrends, and other rele- vant economicand cultural factors". On the other sidethe impact of a major freezeor the inroadsof certain diseasesmay greatly modify acreagesand grower returns. Onething is for certain and that is that Californiacitrus industry, while not as largeas Florida'sis a vital factor to contendwith. Major increasesin acreageare not anticipated. Acreagewill probably sta- bilize somewherebetween 300,000 and 325,000 acres,approximately where it is now. Lossesin southernCalifornia acreage can be expectedand will be offset by increasedplantings in the central Valley. The sizeof individual holdingsis gradually increasingand is now double or triple that of the thirties and forties. Many of the new plantingsare substantialin sizecon- sisting of a 1000 acresor more. More and more, absenteeowners are also involvedwith a marked increasein farm manage- ment services.While there arf still many thousandsof acresin the central Valley which could be plantedto citrus, it is doubted presenteconomics warrant it.

N t- O)

...J -4 u

(J) N (,,0- N t-fC)~ tn-tf') an-- InNN +++ + ++ I

N -CI) . . . ~r-- ('.I (D (.,:0 tn v + +

0 . (.:D

t"- u.a (D t- ~ U) W -° z <.D ~ .~ - Z :I: (1) . U J- + m Z -J LLI z -'" 0- 0 0 r-.. I- -~ 0 1n If) \II .J :J It) :::J m~ ~ UI () (9 N ~ ~ \11 V . a \U - cr Ct' ...J 0.. '2 & cn u :J ~ \LJ~N r--- ~ tt) ~ I ~ (.9g~ <0 t-- v \-- - w (.D , v U ~, I - -- 8- ~O)- - N - ~~~W(.S)t II. z 9 " - a c1 . . p z ~ ~ .. (/) w 0 .. u N w ~ ~ J 0 cn t'"-- ('-i +

\.:0- t . ~. t'\ N N t-t) (,D . . . t") t'""" ll) ~ t't"J I I I , + ,

"- , ~I ~ ~

- I I I ~ .

~. -J I

...J-

~