With ample supplies still available, California’s Ojai Pixie mandarin crop is facing some challenges.
“We’re about 1/3 of the way picked overall. Normally we’d be a bit over ½ way harvested at this time of the year. But this year has been anything but normal,” says Emily Ayala of Friend's Ranches, a grower, packer and seller of Pixie mandarins based in Ojai, Ca.
Ayala notes that the crop this year is approximately 25 percent larger in volume. “It’s about 4.5 million lbs. and right now, about two million has been harvested,” says Ayala. “We were hoping to finish in May but now we’re thinking we may even go into June which we don’t want to do. The fruit holds fine on the trees unless we have a bad heat wave.”
Concerns on demand
The challenge comes on the demand side of the business. During the initial panic buying stage following California’s ‘Stay at Home’ order issued Friday, March 13th, Ayala says that it was challenging keeping up with demand. (The rainy conditions of that week also added to the difficulty in meeting demand.) “Now we’ve had some sunny weather and we’ve got a whole bunch harvested. They’re still flying off the shelves but not in the same fashion that they were when the whole shutdown started,” says Ayala.
The greater concern is over the smaller-sized fruit. “Traditionally a lot of the Pixies get sold through school districts which isn’t happening right now. Foodservice and schools were probably 1/3 of our wholesale business so it hurts,” she says. “We’re reshuffling where all of the smaller fruit goes and that’s been challenging.”
Pushing bagging
The smaller fruit has also led to increased pressure from retailers to provide bagged programs for the small fruit. “We’re trying to keep up with the bagging but we’re too small to be able to bag everything,” says Ayala. “The bag suppliers are also in China and the bags are sitting somewhere between here and there. Our season will likely wrap up by the time we get enough bags in so it’s frustrating.”
So, the push is on to supply local stores with small fruit as well as an increased focus on mail order programs.
That said, pricing on Pixies, which are generally sold at a more premium price than other mandarins in the marketplace, has stayed the same throughout the season.
For more information:
Emily Ayala
Friend's Ranches/Ojai Pixie Growers
Ph: +1 (805) 646-2871
[email protected]
www.friendsranches.com
