Time to Pack It All In? : This Year’s Harvest May Be the Last for Irvine Citrus Plant
The eerie stillness inside the 66-year-old Irvine Valencia Growers packinghouse on the northern outskirts of the city signals more than the end of the busy summer harvest--it may foreshadow the end of an era.
The Irvine Valencia Growers Cooperative is considering permanently closing the Jeffrey Road packinghouse, one of only three left in Orange County, because of a steady decline in the quantity of locally grown oranges as groves have made way for development.
In 1943, at the peak of the citrus industry, there were 45 packinghouses and 65,000 acres of orange groves in the county. Now, only 3,000 acres of orange groves are left.
“In light of the declining acreage base, we are having to examine the feasibility of running the packinghouse here on the Irvine Ranch,” said Peter Changala, Irvine Co. director of agriculture and company representative on the Irvine Valencia Growers Cooperative board.
“My family has been a part of that packinghouse for generations,” Changala said. “It’s something we have to look at first as a business, but from an emotional standpoint (closing) it would be a hard decision to make.”
Beside the effects of creeping urbanization, the Irvine Co. pulled out 1,800 acres of old, poor quality orange groves several months ago, leaving about 800 acres of groves in the Irvine area, according to packinghouse manager Michael Yorba. The Irvine Co.’s oranges and a smaller amount of the company’s Star Ruby grapefruit account for 90% of the packinghouse business. The other 10% of the Irvine Valencia Growers Cooperative consists of about 19 growers in Ventura and San Diego counties.
About 90% of the citrus processed in the Irvine packinghouse is shipped to markets in Hong Kong.
“It’s a question mark whether we’re going to open up again,” said Yorba, a descendant of the Yorba family that received title to much of the Irvine area from Spain in 1810. Yorba, whose father and grandfather were both citrus growers, has managed the Irvine packinghouse since 1975.
“You hate to see the groves go out and you hate to see the packinghouse go, but things are changing, and we have to change with them,” he said.
Ten years ago, the Irvine packinghouse shipped about 1.7 million field boxes of citrus a year. A field box holds about 60 pounds of fruit. This summer, Irvine Valencia Growers shipped about 900,000 field boxes of citrus, Yorba said.
Along with the declining quantity of citrus in Orange County has come a commensurate plunge in its value, which fell by nearly half in 1993 to $8.5 million, according to the annual Orange County crop report released in June. County agriculture officials said fruit from the county’s aging orange groves is smaller and less competitive with Central Valley oranges for Asian markets.
Generations have worked at the Irvine packinghouse, which employs about 300 during the busiest season, from March through September. Often, it’s the wives and daughters of the pickers who work in the packinghouse, sorting and packing the oranges. In 1989, the packinghouse automated some operations, with about 60% of the sizing, grading and packing done by computers.
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One of the biggest technological developments for growers came in the late 1960s with the elimination of smudge pots that had long soiled Southern California skies. The smudge pots burned diesel oil to warm groves and keep fruit from freezing. Growers switched to propeller-driven wind machines that break up stagnant air to keep temperatures from falling too low. Two wind machines still stand next to the packinghouse in an empty field that was once lined with orange trees.
But modernization was not enough to the save the Orange County citrus industry from residential development. Of the county’s two other packinghouses, growers say the packinghouse in Orange, operated by the Villa Park Orange Growers Assn., is operating at full capacity.
Questions remain about the viability of the packinghouse in Placentia operated by the Yorba Growers Assn., according to Changala, as well as a number of packinghouses in surrounding counties.
“All of us are running into the same obstacles,” Changala said. “This is more of a regional issue than an Irvine issue.”
If the Irvine Valencia Growers packinghouse is closed permanently, the growers cooperative will not disband. The growers will seek another packinghouse, likely in another county, with enough volume to keep costs low, Yorba said.
“The grower has to make money if he’s going to stay in business,” he said. “I can understand it.”
End of an Era Orange County’s fruit-packing peak occurred 1943, when there were 45 packing houses here. But now, with the likely closing of Irvine Valencia Growers Cooperative, just two would remain. Some background about the co-op and plant: *
Co-op founded: 1926 Growers: Irvine Co. (90% of the product) plus growers from Ventura and San Diego counties. Plant opened: 1928 Product: Valencia oranges, Star Ruby grapefruit Packing season: March through September Destination: About 90% shipped to Hong Kong; the rest to Ventura; Vancouver, Canada; and Florida for juice. *
Dwindling Crops Valencia oranges, once the emblematic Orange County crop, have been disappearing from local fields: *
Acres Planted ‘93: 2997 *
Tons Produced ‘93: 27,902 Sources: Orange County Environmental Management Agency; Irvine Valencia Growers Cooperative.
