Kern county's orange growers have their full share of challenges these days. The drought is on everyone’s mind. Luckily, it seems that the county's orange orchards are turning out sweet, mature fruit this year.
Forecasts are that prices higher since last year will continue to hold up, along with the tide of inflation, though few expect it will be enough to cover growers' rising costs. Probably the bigger question is how much the imbalance will carry over to consumers' long-term shift away from navel oranges to "easy-peel" fruit like mandarins and clementines.
At the center of the market's outlook is a recent assessment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that California's navel crop this season will be 19 percent bigger than last year's relatively small harvest, potentially putting some downward pressure on prices. Easy-peels are forecast up 15 percent.
Source: bakersfield.com