A rain late in the month had little effect on the cherry or apricot harvests. High winds broke some heavily set almond branches. Picking of grapefruit in the desert area was winding down. The grapefruit harvest in other areas was gaining momentum with good to excellent quality reported. Lemon volume picked to date is ahead of previous years.
Current picking is slow in the south coast area.
Navel orange picking is virtually over. A high percentage of Valencia oranges currently being picked are going to export. Both export and domestic Valencias have good to excellent quality. The 1997 apricot forecast is at 125 thousand tons. This is up approximately 64 percent from the 1996 crop of 76.0 thousand tons and up approximately 131 percent from the 1995 crop of 54.0 thousand tons.