First Fruits Consulting

Month: November 2020

23 Nov 2020
Citrus Exports
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SA citrus exports to US up 50%, set to grow even further as local growers now have access to more ports

More South African citrus fruits will be heading to the US under a new agreement. Early this month, the US government announced the opening of several new ports for South African citrus fruits. The US department of agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service approved the use of additional ports for South African citrus on November 5. The US embassy said the facilitation of the trade between the two countries provided flexibility to American retailers and wholesalers, lowering transportation costs and broadening the reach of South African citrus to other regions.

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23 Nov 2020
Crop Manipulation
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Crop manipulation uppermost on the minds of South African citrus growers

South Africa’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga citrus production regions enjoyed mild temperatures during an “almost ideal” fruit set this spring on all cultivars, including on seedless Valencias. Regions that have been receiving sub-average rainfall for years now, had substantial rain early last month. “Producers need to be cognisant of the potential negative impact of too high fruit set, of which a reduction in fruit size is the most problematic,” the South African citrus industry’s technical service Citrus Research International reminds growers.

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23 Nov 2020
Flooding
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Impacts and management of flooding and waterlogging in citrus orchards

The recent heavy rainfall and flooding events in NSW may cause some immediate damage to trees, but may also have significant long term impacts on citrus orchards, particularly those planted on heavy soils or those with impeded drainage. Previous flooding events in the MIA Previous flooding and high rainfall events occurred in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas (MIA) in the 1930’s and 40’s (during the winter months) and the impacts of those events, combined with a tendency to over-water resulted in considerable decline in tree health and the death of many trees. Survey and research work undertaken by Dr. Lilian Fraser concluded that one of the main causes of tree death and decline was due to infection by the root rot fungus Phytophthora citrophthora.

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23 Nov 2020
Climate Change
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Potential climate change impacts on citrus water requirement across major producing areas in the world.

Understanding how potential climate change will affect availability of water resources for citrus production globally is needed. The main goal of this study is to investigate impacts of potential future climate change on citrus irrigation requirements (IRR) in major global citrus producing regions, e.g., Africa, Asia, Australia, Mediterranean, Americas. The Irrigation Management System (IManSys) model was used to calculate optimum IRR for the baseline period (1986–2005) and two future periods (2055s and 2090s) subject to combination of five and seven temperature and precipitation levels, respectively. Predicted IRR show significant spatio-temporal variations across study regions. Future annual IRR are predicted to globally decrease; however, future monthly IRR showed mixed results.

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