Spanish scientists observed this procedure in California and then refined it to make it effective. In the 1980s and 1990s, high-quality Spanish and Moroccan clementines took markets in Europe and the eastern United States by storm. At last, California farmers awoke to the threat. All the experts said they should grow here, but they weren't the ones putting up the money. Evans hired legions of consultants and sent his oldest son, Barney, to observe the European and South African clementine industries.
Clementines are notoriously finicky, however.
Robert Bennett, a nearby grower with whom Evans joined forces, planted 160 acres of Fina Sodea clementines in 1994, but didn't get a crop in 1998 and 1999. His own Nules grove near the Maricopa Highway should bear its first crop next year. Standing on the berm of the California aqueduct, he surveyed endless rows of 5-foot trees, as a few oil wells pumped away in the distance. By next year Evans and his partners will have more than 2,600 acres of clementines. We'll be the No. 1 clementine producer in the world.