Crop Report: June 20, 2023
Tomatoes
First day of organic harvest: 7/20/2023
Organics – Crop conditions continue to look very good. Starting to see some tomatoes ripening with consistency throughout the early fields.
First day of pear tomato harvest: 8/10/2023
Pear Tomatoes – Fields continue to look very nice and maturing as expected. Plants are healthy and you can see fruit developing in the early fields. Pear Tomatoes are on schedule for harvest just after the organic tomatoes are harvested.
Woodland harvest: 8/1/2023
Conventional Tomatoes – Transplanting completed on June 7th. Early season plantings are looking good. Mid-season plantings are coming along nicely as well. Daytime temperatures continue to be below normal for this time of the year. We may see a chance of temperatures reaching normal for this weekend. However, the weather forecast for next week is looking like it will drop back down to the below average daytime temperatures. This could slow the ripening and maturing process for the plants/fields.
Peaches
First day of harvest was 7/5/2023
Modesto/Madera/Kingsburg – Growers continue to thin their late and extra late varieties; all growers should be done by next week. Results of the third round of Reference Date sizing was 41.3 mm; larger than last year at this time which was 40.8 mm. Block by block estimate is complete. Growers are busy irrigating and fertilizing their orchards. Sprays are being applied as needed.
Marysville/Yuba City – Growers are about 75 to 80 percent done with their thinning. Most will wrap it up in the next two weeks. Reference average size data for the north is tracking similar to last year. 37.4 mm for 2023 compared to 37.9 mm for 2022. 37.4 mm is the third largest over the last ten years. Growers continue with orchard maintenance.
Currently harvesting organics!
Organic – Kingsburg – Peach harvest started Monday, June 12th with the American variety. The Calaveras will be the next variety to harvest. Normal cultural practices continue. Madera – Done thinning all varieties but the Starns. Summer pruning and except continue. Fertilizer was applied and irrigating as needed.
Pears
First day of harvest: 7/20/2023
River and Linden – The crop volume varies from orchard to orchard. Some orchards appear to have a better crop than others. Growers are still hoping to make their full PCP deliveries. Some fruit has reached over 2” in size.
Mendocino and Lake – The crop continues to appear to be a full crop. Fruit size looks good. Growers continue to irrigate and perform normal cultural practices.
PNW – PNW pear crop continues to look plentiful with good quality. Growers are irrigating and continuing their cultural practices. Harvest is predicted to start the middle of August.
Grapes
First day of harvest: 8/1/2023
Still way too early to know for sure but grape harvest is on track to start on or around August 1st. Vines look healthy and bunches are swelling. To this point the tonnage looks adequate to meet our pack plan needs. Cultural practices continue in all vineyards.
Cherries
Currently harvesting!
Harvest has started! The first deliveries have been good quality. Last week, smaller than average cherry sizes were mentioned. There will be orchards we cannot pick because the cherry size is too small. Orchards cropped too heavy to size, is worse than if the tree had not set any crop. There are orchards under stress with too much fruit that cannot be picked. Trees need a balance between growing fruit and limbs with leaves. We are still expecting a full pack of quality cherries. Harvest will last until the middle of August. In the picture, notice the wind is blowing the leaves sideways. This allows a good look at the cherries.
Apricots
First day of harvest: 6/17/2023
Harvest began in Los Banos on June 17th, that is 18 days later than last year. As fruits mature it is easy to notice the mixed maturity. We are encouraging growers to only pick the ripe fruit on the first pass then come back once greener fruit has matured. It is anticipated the harvest process could drag out longer than normal. Forecasted cooler temperatures are not going to help. Hail can still be seen in most orchards. Growers continue to irrigate along with all other cultural practices.