Organics – Crop is still looking good, progressing as it should. We’re a little over two weeks out from harvest. We have another week of daytime temperatures being in the low one hundreds.
San Marzano Style, Pear Tomatoes– Everything is good. Crop is maturing as expected. Weather forecast daytime temperatures to be in the low one hundreds all next week.
Conventional Tomatoes – Early crops are coming along nicely. Starting to see some color here and there. Mid-season plantings are also progressing well. Late season plantings are maturing as expected. Weather forecasts daytime temperatures to be in the mid to high nineties for the next few days. Perfect ripening weather.
Modesto/Madera/Kingsburg – Most growers are done thinning their orchards. The results of the last round of reference date sizing was 42.3mm, this is smaller than last year at this time. Fruit is slowly maturing with some areas of mixed maturity. A heat wave will be rolling through the area this weekend, warmer nights may speed things up. We will finish the American variety early next week with the Calaveras variety starting mid next week. Irrigation and normal cultural practices continue.
Marysville/Yuba City – Peaches in the North are still sizing. The color of the extra early varieties is starting to change from a dark green to a lighter green. Calaveras, the first variety to be picked in the North, is starting to develop from a light green color to a light yellow, which signifies we are getting closer to harvest. PCP bins are going out to extra early variety orchards in preparation for the harvest. All other field operations and maintenances are on track.
Organic Peaches – Kingsburg – We completed harvest of the American variety this week and will be starting the Calaveras and Ultra, early next week.
Madera – Finished the first pick on the American variety and will go back for a second pick next week. Calaveras variety will start around the first week of July.
River and Linden Districts – CA Pear Advisory Board (CPAB) met this week. Growers estimate an industry crop size of 65,000 tons for the River District. This is an 18% decrease from last year’s deliveries. Even though the crop is down in the district, PCP should receive our contracted tons. Growers will send less to packing sheds and the other processor. Pears are averaging just over 2” in diameter. Cultural practices continue.
Mendocino and Lake Districts – CPAB estimates the Mendocino crop at 11,000 tons and Lake at 21,500 tons. This is 31% decrease in Mendocino and 11% decrease in Lake from last year’s deliveries. This has affected the amount of tons PCP will receive from these districts. However, we will find the pear tons in this district to balance with our needed customer contracted packs.
Pacific Northwest – Pear crop continues to develop nicely. The crop is short of a full crop. We expect to pick our first Bartletts in Yakima August 7-10.
Grapes are on track to be ready for harvest around the 29th of July. Brix testing (measurement of sweetness) will be done in a week or two to confirm. It still looks like we will have adequate tonnage to meet our pack plan. Cultural practices continue in all vineyards.
The Pacific Northwest cherry harvest is going well. The quality, the labor situation and the weather has been good. The amount of cherries are tight. We are picking short but close to estimates in The Dalles. Salem pick outs appear to vary by orchard. We are hoping to harvest and receive enough in our Salem district to reverse our shortages expected from the Dalles Region.
Apricot harvest should be completed on June 27th. Overall fruit quality has been good throughout harvest. Growers embraced two picking all their blocks which definitely helped. This year’s apricot harvest will be a bit down as expected, with our season likely finishing with tons received and processed at just under 5,500 tons .
Apple crop is clean and plentiful. Growers are irrigating and continuing with their good agricultural practices.
