New cost studies released by the UC ANR Agricultural Issues Center and UC Cooperative Extension show that peach growers could net roughly $800 more per acre from late-harvest processing peaches compared to extra-early harvest varieties.
UC researchers studied the cost of production for extra-early harvested varieties and late-harvested varieties for processing in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento. Processors will often pay more for extra-early harvested peach varieties, but the researchers found significant differences in price, yield, and fruit thinning costs.
The study showed late-harvested varieties to have a price of $490 per ton, a yield of 20 tons per acre, and a thinning cost of $1,177 per acre. While extra-early harvested varieties may have had a higher price of $545 per ton, the yield was lower at 17 tons per acre, and the thinning cost was more expensive at $1,445 per acre.
The findings are based on hypothetical, efficiently manages farming operations using the most common practices to the area. UC ANR Cooperative Extension farm advisors, growers, and others associated with agriculture provided information for the project and reviewed the methods used for the study. Costs, materials, and practices that were used in these studies will not be applicable to all farms.
These and other cost-of-production studies are available on the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website.