FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — On the outside, some grapefruit in Fresno County orchards may not look very tasty but once you slice it.<\/p>\n
“You see the inside, it’s still good, right?” said Eric Schmidt.<\/p>\n
Eric Schmidt with Ess Farms says in his 20 years of growing fruit, he’s experienced several challenges with unpredictable weather patterns, but this year something is different.<\/p>\n
“What we started seeing with all the fog was these started to get affected and started to fall,” said Schmidt.<\/p>\n
Leading to an overwhelming amount of citrus on the ground with freeze like burns and pitting.<\/p>\n
Schmidt says the reason is unclear.<\/p>\n
“We don’t really know what has happened. We don’t know if it’s the fog, if it’s the lack of sun. Everybody is kind of thinking that it’s a mixture of both,” said Schmidt.<\/p>\n
Schmidt says he’s talked with at least a dozen growers dealing with the same situation.
When it comes to harvesting, he says a lot of the citrus inside the tree is better protected, but he won’t really know how much they’ll be impacted until after harvest season.<\/p>\n
“You really don’t realize it how much you had on the tree until you see what’s on the ground,” said Schmidt.<\/p>\n
Despite the unexpected, Schmidt says growers have appreciated the recent storms and will work together to tackle this new hurdle.<\/p>\n
“It’s not to say it won’t happen in another 20 years, we just don’t know, so it’s groups like Citrus Mutual that bring us together to understand, and I’m sure they will share it,” said Schmidt.<\/p>\n
California Citrus Mutual is hosting a virtual meeting with several growers to discuss what they’re seeing and how to move forward.<\/p>\n
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