Much ado about oranges

 How are routes planned? Is it by careful calculation; gazetteers consulted; sites of interest vectored. The build up clearly indicates no.  I pick a place I want to go - in this case Castellon.  Plonk the Google Directions marker down and then try to keep as close to it as possible while keeping around 3.8-4 km a day.   This means today we are following the path left travelled, between the oranges and olives.


In searching around for something to write I have discovered a thing called Citrus Industry Magazine exists.  https://citrusindustry.net/   From this I have learned that Spain is Europe’s leading producers of oranges, with 300,000 acres yielding 21 million boxes.  While only producing 6% of the worlds oranges they account for 25% of the total oranges exported.



Mandarins, including satsumas, clementines and various others, make up 22% of Spain’s citrus production. Lemons and limes represent 11 percent of production, and grapefruit and pomelo about 5%.  75% are sold fresh, the other 25% is processed as juice.  


Apparently one worker can prune 60 trees a day.

All is not well in the world of oranges. A January 2025 report noted the agricultural organisation La Unió Llauradora had raised alarms over the crisis of cheap Egyptian imports and called for immediate action from the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture.  Egyptian imports had forced down Spanish prices to 0.51 euros a kilo. 


I have found things out I need to share, but, to be honest, this does feel a bit like, no, I lie, a lot like, spoonhorning it in.  Spain sold the UK 70% of its oranges in 1930.  By 1935 it was down to 35%.  Palestinian oranges rose from 15% to 36%.


We will end with the news that „Sir Francis Carew is said to have grown the first orange trees in the country on his estate at Beddington near croydon in Surrey, some time before 1562.












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