Meet Roger Smith, an expert Sumo Citrus grower from California’s San Joaquin Valley. Roger has been passionately growing Sumo Citrus since 2008, tending to rows of the legendary fruit in his backyard.

“A Sumo Citrus farmer’s work never seems to be done. Once the fruit is harvested in January, we get right back to work getting ready for the next crop. Canopy management, fertilization, soil health, and moisture management begins immediately,” Roger explains.

“Sometimes the fruit hasn’t even made its way to stores and we’re at work getting the trees ready to set next year’s crop,” says Roger.

“We pray a lot, as hot May and June days causes many fruit to turn yellow and fall off, called “June drop.” June is when the marble sized fruit that remains starts to show itself and it is also the time for us to worry about the fruit getting sunburned from triple-digit Central Valley summers, so we apply natural clay sunscreen on the fruit to protect them.”

Once the rain has ceased, irrigation becomes a serious weekly chore.

All Sumo Citrus growers take water management very seriously, utilizing years of experience combined with state-of-the-art technology that assists them in knowing exactly when and where to water, and conserving as much as possible.

Roger explains how Sumo Citrus stays irrigated in the hot summer months:

Learn more about what happens on our Sumo Citrus farms in the summer here.

It’s growers like Roger who make sure the world’s most loved fruit is big enough, sweet enough, and has that signature Sumo Citrus taste, year over year, all for the love of citrus.