Set in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley in the shadow of the Tehachapi Mountains, Johnston Farms is a family owned partnership that was initially started by J.C. Johnston after retiring from the railroad in 1947.

In the beginning, the farm grew primarily potatoes and cotton and expanded to include citrus with the planting of the first Navel oranges in 1962.

Since then the company has expanded its initial 80 acres of citrus to more than 2,000 acres of Navel oranges, Satsuma mandarins and ruby red grapefruit, which are packed and shipped in the agricultural community of Edison, CA, in the southern San Joaquin Valley. 

Johnston Farms’ new high-graphic BlueJay brand citrus carton. .Johnston Farms is now a fourth generation family farm that continues to grow with each year. Some of the company’s most popular labels are Blue Jay and Victor, which can be found in stores all across the country and the world.

Derek Vaughn, who sits on the sales desk and is part of that fourth generation, told The Produce News on Oct. 17 that the total navel crop appeared to be 10-15 percent lighter than last year’s record crop.

“But last year everyone here had a much larger volume than normal,” he said. “The main challenge is that we can always use more rain. We were fortunate to get some wet weather last season, but we are always hoping for more.”

Another challenge citrus growers in the state are facing is in their fight against the Asian citrus psyllid.

“We, along with other citrus companies in the valley, are all working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to control the spread of this bug that has affected so many of the citrus crops in Florida,” said Vaughn.

Despite the challenges, projections for this year’s citrus crop at Johnston Farms look good. Vaughn said that picking was just about to get underway. The company’s Navel orange program will begin the week of Oct. 31, or possibly a few days earlier, and will run until mid-April. The firm’s mandarins and star ruby grapefruit were expected to begin being harvested in November.

“Our stem and leaf mandarin program and our grapefruit program will start in mid-November and go until early to late March,” said Vaughn.

“The fruit coming in from offshore is beginning to look tired, so I think everyone will be ready for fresh California citrus,” he added.

Johnston Farms ships mainly to wholesalers and into export markets including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. It also distributes its citrus fruits into Canada.

In early March, during its winter citrus season, the company launched its new high-graphic BlueJay brand citrus carton.

“We launched the new box for our late varieties of Autumn Gold Navel oranges and Lane Late Navel oranges,” explained Vaughn. “Our plan is to eventually use it for our entire citrus program.”

In addition to its BlueJay brand, Johnston Farms markets fruit under the Victor label. Top J and Gold Mountain labels are used primarily for the company’s export markets.