Kings River Packing shipping fruit across the US, Canada, and Mexico
The company located along Trimmer Springs Road near the Kings River has come a long way from starting with just two trees.
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Citrus season is now in full swing in the Central Valley.
The smell of sweet oranges hits you as soon as you enter Kings River Packing in Sanger.
The fruit moves quickly along the line, so it can be bagged under the Poppies label or a private label.
Sales Manager Jesse Silva says 22 million boxes of citrus will be packed this year.
This fruit is headed to local stores as well as retailers around the US, Canada and Mexico.
"Demand has been off the charts. We've been seeing high demand for our mandarin varieties and also for the navels," explained Silva.
Sensors inside the packing house quickly grade fruit, which zips past.
The citrus is even scanned for brix levels, showing how much sugar is in the fruit.
"It can actually, through light detection that goes the fruit, we can actually sort fruit by sugar and by acid ratio," Silva said.
"That whole process is grading the size and quality of the fruit. We actually have over 20 different pictures of one piece of fruit."
The trees in the orchard are fully loaded during this time of year.
"We're real happy with the quality and the size."
Silva says these navels are still a few weeks away from being picked.
"What we like to see is a thinner skin and really nice juice sacks," Silva said.
The weather is getting chilly, but the temperatures don't have many growers too concerned.
The cold is beneficial.
"When we start to hit those 28-32 degrees, that helps strengthen the fruit and gives us a better quality season. A longer season with the fruit," said Silva.
The company located along Trimmer Springs Road near the Kings River has come a long way from starting with just two trees.
"Kings River Packing, it's an 8-generation family farm that's been farming since the 1800s. A neat fun fact about the family. They were the first ones to plant citrus in Fresno County," Silva said.
Those seeds came from oranges Mary and William Hazelton picked up in Mexico.
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