Tomatoes
Pear Shapes – Our second harvest phase of San Marzano style pear tomatoes began last week and is still in process. Quality and field yields are good.
Conventionals – Harvest continues with load counts increasing however some supply concerns persist. Fruit quality and field yields have been good so far. Starting to see some concerns in a few fields due to unseasonably high dews in the morning. Growers noting and taking precautions to minimize the impact. Our harvest must extend to October 11th in order for us to pack enough cases for our fiscal year demand. We are hoping for the best but remain cautious with our prediction.
Organics – Harvest completed with final tonnage of 27,077 tons, 23% short of our planned pack budget.
Peaches
Early varieties finished up last week. Late varieties are over half way done with harvest. Many varieties are being picked including Ross, Monacos, Halfords, as well as Late Ross. Starns are begining to show color and are estimated to be 10 days out. Challenges continue for Northern California peach growers. Triple digit heat has growers pushing to get their fruit picked before it gets soft. Growers are facing this need to pick with a dwindling labor supply. Labor, trucking, and cold storage will be pushed to the limit in order to pick ripe and ready crop. Some fields still experiencing mixed sizing resulting in small fruit being sorted out. All fields are receiving irrigation as needed.
Cherries
Harvest began June 7th and completed August 9th. Our estimated crop was 34 million pounds with our total 2019 crop ending just shy of 33 million pounds.
Grapes
Harvest is well under way and going strong. Growers are applying irrigation as needed for quality and size.
Pears
Harvest continues for most with some growers finishing up harvest. Quality is good however size continues to be a struggle for most. Growers still picking are also struggling to find enough labor to harvest the remaining crop.
Apricots
Harvest began June 20th and completed July 12th. Our estimated tonnage was 8,700 tons with our total 2019 tonnage ending at 8,895 tons.