Israel boasts nearly 300 kibbutzim. The first of these collective agricultural communities was established more than a century ago, in 1909. Nitzanim, a kibbutz located between the towns of Ashkelon and Ashdod, owns Hadarei Nitzanim, a citrus growing and packing company. Nitzanim was started in 1943, five years before the State of Israel was founded.
Or Shriper in the warehouse
Once the farm's citrus acreage reached around 100 hectares, and significant quantities were thus being harvested every year, it was decided to build a packing facility. "Today, that acreage covers 150 hectares within the agricultural community, and through partnerships with growers outside the kibbutz, we reach a total area of 300 hectares. The packing plant also processes citrus from other kibbutzim and independent growers from all over the country," begins Hadarei Nitzanim's Or Shpirer.
The machine fills the cartons with product
From Shamouti to Orri
The company targets the local market with its own brand, but for a long time, it also exported the well-known Shamouti oranges. This typical Israeli orange has few pips and a hard peel, making it very suitable for export. "Its price, however, gradually began to drop, and thus our growers slowly replaced those orange trees with other citrus, especially red grapefruit. When that fruit, too, lost market share, we switched to Orri mandarins, of which we now have about 100 hectares. It has a long season, from late December to late April, so it's an important variety for the packing station."
Along with Orri, the company cultivates and processes 20 different citrus varieties, including clementines, mandarins, oranges, lemons, and white and red grapefruit. That means the packing facility runs for months at a time, with June to August being its only downtime. Some of Hadarei Nitzanim's workers are kibbutz members; others come from outside the commune, including Thai workers with five-year residence permits or Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nitzanim is barely 25 km from the Gaza Strip, and when tensions between Hamas and Israel flare, work is suspended as a precaution. The plant also has an air raid shelter.
Challenging crop
"Orri cultivation yields 40 ton per hectare, and those mandarins are grown on roughly 4,000 hectares across Israel. Most of that's on the coast, where the climate is most favorable for this club variety. The Supervisory Council doesn't centrally regulate prices; the (international) market does that. Israel has about 25 packing stations, where these fruits are prepared for sale on the local and overseas markets," says Or.
Harvest will arrive here and receives the first treatments
To reach that 40-ton-yield, growers must pamper the trees throughout the season. "It's not enough to do a little irrigation and use fertilizers. The trees, though very vigorous, have to be meticulously pruned and thinned too. The season's quite long, and harvesting is done in the damp winter. Also, growers must constantly ward off pests and fungi. Not every grower gets the most out of this crop. With their harder peels and fall or spring harvesting, oranges and grapefruit are easier to grow."
"At one time, Israel's Orri acreage spanned 5,000 hectares, but a thousand of that has since disappeared. Cultivation costs used to be lower, and the shekel's exchange rate didn't hamper exports like now. Then, having these mandarins yield 30 tons/ha was still profitable. But those times are over. Even with 40 tons AND a good pack-out, it's hard for growers to survive. Only those who can enter the market early in the season, when prices are most attractive, can make do with these lower returns," Or explains.
Far-off destinations too
Orri is just about the only mandarin variety Israel exports. After a three-week sea voyage, some even reach far-off destinations such as the US and Canada. "Careful handling at the packing station is therefore needed to ensure the product arrives at its destination in optimal conditions. Transport to North America requires a 2ºC storage protocol. Still, Europe is our main export market. During the pandemic, citrus demand was excellent, and you could say Orri - a premium product - consumption is on the rise."
According to Or, they have competition in the European market from less expensive Nadorcotts and Tangos from Morocco and Türkiye, in the sense that these can bring Orri prices down. "Spanish Orris are also a threat since they can reach the European market in just two days and at lower transportation costs. Plus, buyers often choose products they consider ‘local.’ In turn, our strength is better sizing and color."
The Warehouse
Short and long-term prospects
Shpirer is convinced that any Orri acreage expansion in the next few years, whether in Spain or Israel, could drive the product's price down. "I think, in the short term, we’ve more or less reached our maximum. As an additional market, the United Arab Emirates is an option. But the opportunities there aren't that great, because there's strong competition from other products too. We'd like to export to our neighbor Saudi Arabia. That's in the future. I see fewer opportunities in Southeast Asia, partly because of the transit time and partly because of competition from regional production. I've heard that China already has a 100,000-hectare acreage And, in Japan and South Korea, to which we export Sweety and red and white grapefruit, Orri sales haven’t taken off either."
Harvest from the field
However, in the slightly longer term, production upscaling is certainly possible since - claims the expert - Orri is the best mandarin on earth, and demand in various markets will keep growing. "But its cultivation is demanding and, there, climate change poses major challenges. We'll have to wait and see if we can overcome those obstacles. If we succeed, Orri will always have the edge over other varieties. We've seen this several times in recent years when promising new varieties with the same marketing window took their chance. They genuinely have to be much better than Orri to survive. Only if they don't enter the market at the same time as Orri do they stand a chance," concludes Or.
For more information:
Or Shpirer
Hadarei Nitzanim
Kibutz Nitzanim (Israel)
Tel: +972 867 21 404
Email: [email protected]