SLO County farm finds new way to wash citrus — and cut 700,000 gallons of pesticides a year
Bee Sweet Citrus has implemented a modern and sustainable citrus wash line at Bartleson Ranch in Nipomo that will eliminate more than 700,000 gallons of pesticides per year, according to a press release by Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences.
Bartleson Ranch is a 450-acre avocado and lemon ranch, donated to Cal Poly in 2015 by Stu and Jan Bartleson. The ranch is used as a hands-on learning and research site for students studying horticulture, fruit science, and soil science at Cal Poly.
The wash line eliminates the need for using pesticides to combat the threat of the Asian citrus psyllid prior to transport. This tiny insect, no bigger than a grain of rice, feeds on the stems and leaves of citrus trees and can infect citrus trees with a bacteria that causes a citrus greening disease called Huanglongbing (HLB), according to the Citrus Pest and Prevention Program.
“This disease has decimated citrus in other countries and in Florida,” said Russ Kabaker, assistant dean of Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences.
“The only way to stop HLB from spreading is to stop the psyllid,” Keith Watkins, Bee Sweet Citrus vice president of farming, said in a press release. “Even if an area already has a high psyllid population, preventative measures such as washing fruit to remove the pest from the loads is imperative to slow the spread of the disease.”
Prior to transport, citrus is loaded onto the wash line conveyor system, which removes the leaves and then washes the fruit in soaking tanks filled with water — removing any potential Asian citrus psyllids. The citrus is then transported on the conveyor belt through a cleaning bed, sorted and put into bins for transport.
Without the wash line, pesticides must be sprayed after each harvest, which can be up to five times a year, before citrus can be transported from one area to another.
While spraying pesticide may be effective in removing pests, other “good bugs” may die in the process, which can result in a flare-up of other harmful pests, Bee Sweet Citrus said.
This new method will be more cost effective for growers. The water used in the washing process is recycled at the ranch and can be used for irrigation as needed, AnnMarie Cornejo, communications specialist at Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences, told The Tribune in an email.
Although Bee Sweet Citrus owns and operates the wash line, the company plans to open it up to outside growers and use it as an educational tool for Cal Poly students as part of their continued partnership with the university.
The wash line installation was managed by Thomas Marderosian, a Cal Poly alum and one of three sons of Bee Sweets founder Jim Marderosian, and Matt Watkins, who is involved in pest control. One of Bee Sweet Citrus’s previous Cal Poly interns, Fransciso Zepeda, a recent Cal Poly graduate, will be managing the new wash line.
“Bee Sweets Citrus is always reaching out to our students,” Kabaker said. “This is a learning opportunity to teach students that there are other ways to be sustainable, facilitate internships and job opportunities.”
The new washline was unveiled on Friday, June 12, at the Bartleson Ranch.