http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/09/20090109mr-citrus0110.html

Citrus growers squeeze out a living

by Angelique Soenarie - Jan. 10, 2009 08:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

There are a few brave souls still in the citrus business in the Valley.

Allen Freeman, a fourth-generation farmer, is one of them. He is one of a handful of growers in Mesa who has not surrendered to urban sprawl or given up on the labor that goes into growing citrus.

"My dad started 37 years (ago). He originally grew cotton, but when the price of cotton dropped in the 1960s, he saw everybody surrounding him growing citrus," said Freeman, who now operates the Orange Patch, which produces 110 acres of oranges, lemons and grapefruits.

Freeman said he doesn't make millions, but he does just enough to stay in business, even though he lost 71 acres of production when Loop 202 came through his property.

Citrus has long been one of the "Five Cs" of Arizona's economy, the others being cotton, copper, cattle and climate.

Anyone driving in northeast Mesa these days can get a sense of that this time of year, when the harvest is in full swing and Freeman and other growers pluck and pack their crops for frozen fans in the Midwest and East Coast.

"We've had a great Christmas," said Freeman, who sells and ships boxes to customers from his stores on Lehi and McKellips roads. Freeman sells 8,000 pounds of citrus weekly.

Customers are from all over the country and Freeman ships many boxes to Ohio, Alaska and Hawaii.

But while Freeman is having a good year, others aren't so lucky.

The Mesa Citrus Growers Association, which packages oranges under the Sunkist label, is having a somewhat sour season.

"This year, we have a fairly large lemon crop and demand is down," said Bill Faysack, packing manager for the cooperative, which employs about 140 pickers and other laborers during the peak season.

Among the commercial packer's 18 to 20 growers, the overall production of naval oranges is down this season, but the demand is up, Faysack said.

"We're moving what we have," he said. "We are roughly 65 to 75 percent harvested.

"I think it's impacted on our sales. Lemons are a high-priced commodity. It's hard to go out and spend a lot on lemons.

"Last year was light here because of the 2006 freeze and it had a huge impact on the 2007-2008 crop. Some areas got extremely cold," he said.

In fact, some growers are still recovering from the freeze.

Faysack said he has sold 46,000 40-pound boxes of citrus since October.