Crop Report: May 17th, 2021
Tomatoes
Conventionals – Transplanting continues. Strong winds and warm daytime temperatures last week slowed down the process. Early plantings and mid-season plantings continue to grow and mature.
San Marzano Style – Plants continue to grow and are progressing nicely. We are beginning to see pea size fruit with some consistency.
Organics – Fields are looking good. Plants continue to grow and mature nicely. Plants are beginning to show nickel to quarter size fruit with regularity.
Peaches
Organics – Growers are 80% done with thinning. All normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Conventionals – Growers continue to thin orchards, however the process is occurring slower than usual due to lack of available labor. This week district managers will begin conducting pre-season block by block estimates in all orchards. Early fruit size estimates are slightly smaller than average. All normal cultural practices & crop protection continue including irrigation as needed to aid fruit development.
Pears
Winds have been strong in some districts resulting in some fruit falling off of trees. Growers are estimating an ample supply of fruit for this year’s harvest. Temperatures have been above average for this time of year. Anticipated start dates for harvest are 5-7 days earlier than last year. All normal cultural practices and crop protections continue.
Grapes
Growers are continuing to thin vineyards as needed. All normal cultural practices and crop protections continue. Growers are irrigating as needed.
Cherries
Early orchards are undergoing pit hardening. Fruit color is fading from green to yellow hues. Crop continues to grow and is progressing as expected. All cultural practices and crop protection continue as needed.
Apricots
Pits are beginning to harden and are smaller than average. Growers are conducting additional thinning and continue to irrigate in hopes of increasing overall fruit size. Cooler temperatures in the forecast will help accelerate growth. All cultural practices and crop protection continue as needed.
Mango
Harvest was late but overall quality is good and ample. Plants continue to face impacts from COVID as they struggled with labor. We continue to face increased costs due to labor and raw material cost increases.
Pineapple
COVID continues to hinder the workforce as labor typically comes into these countries from other Southeast Asian countries. Because of this plants are operating at 65% capacity and are not running as efficient. Crop looks ample & positive for this summer’s pack as well as the winter crop.
Oysters
This year’s crop was good. Overall size was slightly smaller than average. We continue to face increased costs due to supply chain and COVID regulations.