Crop Report: July 14th, 2022
Tomatoes
Conventionals – Early and mid season plantings continue to grow and mature nicely. Late season planting is still in the developing stage. Overall crop looks good.
San Marzano Style – Crop continues to grow and mature nicely.
Organics – Crop is continuing to grow and mature nicely. Harvest is expected to start July 13th. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Peaches
Organics – Some growers have begun harvest. The quality is looking good. Other area growers are expected to start harvest next week. Irrigation is being applied as needed. Normal cultural practices continue in all orchards.
Conventionals – Currently, peach harvest is ramping up, with grower’s main concern of uneven ripeness. A heat wave is anticipated in the coming week so growers will need to allocate their time to picking to avoid overripe fruit while irrigation is provided as necessary. Prior to harvest, a four-day cold snap in late February 2022 coupled with an additional, untimely frost on April 28th, damaged a significant portion of our California Cling Peach crop. We expect a resultant harvest of approximately 78% of normal (22% short of initial spring estimate). As with our cherry crop, Pacific Coast Producers will try to avert some of this extreme FY2023 peach shortage by making strategic outside purchases and maximizing yield with our new, very effective Tomra Halo 5B sorting technology. There will be more to come on this hopeful, yet expensive plan to stay in stock through to May 2023 or better for our clients. We are needing good fortune and unencumbered overseas
transportation to reverse this undesirable impending supply position.
Pears
The industry’s pear maturity test was completed with all the fruit passing. Growers decided to hold off for a few extra days before harvesting to allow the pears to grow in size. Packing sheds will start packing for the fresh market on July 11th which we will receive a couple loads a day from. Major
volume will not be seen for another week or two.
Grapes
Triple digit temperatures are expected this week, which is normal for this time of year. Crop potential continues to look good with grapes already meeting the minimum size requirements. Overall tonnage looks ideal for this year’s harvest needs. All normal cultural practices and crop protections continues.
Cherries
Cherry harvest is over 40% picked and will conclude at the end of August. Due to the unprecedented frost and rain, which has wiped out nearly 50% of our expected annual raw cherry needs, Pacific Coast Producers will supplement this shortage with two strategic outside purchases from the Northwest and Romania. These measures are necessary to keep our valued customers supplied.
Apricots
Apricot harvest began May 31st and was completed on June 24th. We are able to meet our estimated tonnage goals during this year’s harvest.