California growers have been pleased with a better-than-expected peach crop this year. Manager and Field Representative for the California Canning Peach Association, Sutton Hunter said it was a bit of a rocky start to the season. However, yield totals ultimately came in larger than last year, at approximately 219,000 tons.
“It’s about seven percent up from last year when we had 204,000 tons,” Hunter noted. “This was a surprise to us all because as the year went along, we saw a real heavy bloom and we thought, ‘great, it’s going to be a great, heavy set.’ But because of that extended winter and the extended rains, it really knocked off a lot of those blossoms, causing our set to be a lot lighter than we expected.”
Initially, the outlook was uncertain due to uneven fruit distribution across trees, making it challenging to predict the yield accurately. However, as the season progressed, the weather was advantageous to production. Cooler summer temperatures provided some benefits for the trees. Most varieties exceeded expectations, contributing to the overall increase in yield. Hunter said that while the fruit set might have had some challenges, the quality of the fruit made up for it.
“This year it was very good. The off-grade was very minimal,” Hunter explained. “I think that partially had to do with the lighter set, and less peaches to take care of. They were bigger in size, and they had less disease issues.”
The increase in production was also accompanied by good prices for growers. Overall, the peach crop was largely without too many pest and disease issues. However, there were several rejections based on worm infestations. Hunter said that low nut prices might have resulted in some operations forgoing crop protection applications, potentially impacting peach orchards.
“Navel orangeworm got heavier in the nut crops such as almonds and walnuts. And even if you sprayed in the peaches, there was enough to still work over and make a dent in the peach crops that were surrounded possibly by nut orchards,” Hunter noted. “So that was one disadvantage, I would say, to some of the conditions this year that our growers just weren’t expecting. And it’s hard to see that coming.”
Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West