http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081592.htm

Drought blamed for low valencia harvest

Posted 2 hours 40 minutes ago

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The drought is being blamed for South Australia's valencia orange crop being downgraded to the lowest on record.

It has been forecast that South Australia will harvest 45,000 to 48,000 tonnes of valencias this year, a significant reduction from previous years.

The South Australian Citrus Crop Estimates Committee says the 2007 crop has also been affected by small fruit size, frost and tree removals.

Committee chairman Kym Thiel says growers are planning to harvest earlier than usual.

"In a normal year we would have quite a lot of fruit that's harvested after Christmas and the New Year, January, February, March, April," he said.

"Valencias ... traditionally ... do blow up or size up quite a bit in that period, and that therefore gives us increased tonnage as well.

"But certainly with the water situation the way it is, growers are looking to either get fruit off the tree and turn patches off or simply get fruit off the tree to try and conserve water."