March 2006
UC SAREP study: Mandarin oranges show potential for market expansion
Placer County mandarins. Wayde Carroll photo for Placer County Ag Marketing Program.
DAVIS--What's bright orange, fits in a pocket, easy to peel and has marketing potential in the United States? If you answered "mandarin oranges," you would be right, according to local food systems researchers at the University of California's sustainable agriculture program
"Rising demand for mandarins in the U.S. is related to their developing reputation as a healthy, easy-to-eat food, and the fact that more Americans are including greater amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet," said Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst for the Davis-based statewide UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP).
The world supply of mandarins is showing an upward trend as they become more popular, but the United States is far behind other regions in production, she noted.
Feenstra and graduate researchers Heather Ricks and Erin Derden-Little have completed a report on the marketing potential for mandarin growers in Placer County. The researchers found that Placer County growers are boosting production to fill the growing demand for the fruit in the United States while creating more demand for mandarins through marketing.
"Even though we can see production beginning to increase, growers and other ag experts sense that the local market for mandarins has barely been tapped," said Derden-Little. "The main objective of this project is to identify and assess potential marketing strategies for mandarin growers in Placer County."
Americans eat approximately three pounds of mandarins per year, most of which are consumed fresh, according to the report. China, Spain and Japan are the top three world producers, growing almost 60 percent of all tangerines (a variety of mandarin). California is among the leaders in increased acreage planted to mandarins in the United States, with Placer County ranking fifth in production in the state. Per capita consumption in Placer County was up to almost four pounds last year, according to Derden-Little.
"Area mandarin growers, though, are facing major roadblocks in local and statewide markets because of the effects of global ag trends, and a lack of grower knowledge about marketing and production," she said. "Although ag land is threatened by development, we have detailed the opportunities that do exist for increased local mandarin sales."
Assessing the Local Marketing Potential for Mandarin Growers in Placer County, available as a free download at http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/cdpp/foodsystems/mandarin.pdf, details the advantages Placer growers have being located in a county with a well-established system of farmers markets, the 10-year-old Mandarin Festival that attracts 30,000 visitors, and a new Mountain Mandarin Magic grove tour.
Derden-Little said one of the chief advantages for the area is education and marketing support. In addition to having the only county-appointed agricultural marketing specialist in the state, Placer County has excellent support from UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors as well as local officials and agricultural support staff sympathetic to farming issues, she said.
The UC SAREP report also outlines opportunities for mandarin growers, said Feenstra.
"We note that there is a marketing opportunity in educating consumers about the unique flavor of mountain-grown mandarins and the support they can provide by buying local produce," she said. "Other opportunities for growers include using Internet Web sites for advertising and sales, and capitalizing on direct retail sales and agricultural tourism."
Feenstra said the report is part of UC SAREP's participation in a multistate research project funded by the USDA.
"In addition to providing a concrete assessment of the marketing system in place in Placer County for mandarin growers, we also focused our analysis on ways in which local small-scale producers are attempting to sustain their foothold in the ag economy," Feenstra said.
Feenstra said specialty fruit producers, marketers, and others interested in targeting niche markets for agricultural goods might also find the report valuable.
Media Contacts:
Gail Feenstra, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP)
food systems analyst, (530) 752-8408, gwfeenstra@ucdavis.edu
Lyra Halprin, SAREP, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
