Peaches
Organic Peach harvest is complete. Fruit quality was good. The Lates continue to drag out with deliveries for Lilliland and Late Ross still trickling in. The Extra Lates fell into a holding pattern with cooler than average temperatures. It has been difficult holding growers off to avoid picking too green because of the heavy drop the Extra Lates are experiencing. We are about 85% done with the Extra Earlies. Overall fruit quality remains good. We are anticipating the last day of harvest will be Friday the 7th.
Pears
Conventional Pear harvest is complete. Fruit quality and size were good. Organic Pear harvest continues in Lake County and the crop looks good.
Apricots
Our Apricot harvest finished up on July 9th. The 2018 harvest was a major challenge as predicted; extended bloom led to a very short crop. Fruit quality was good. Unfortunately, our apricot yield was approximately 25% of normal and needed.
Tomatoes
Organic Tomatoes – Harvest is complete. The crop looked very good, which led to a high quality organic pack. Most PCP staffers felt this was our finest looking organic tomato crop in our history.
Pear Tomatoes – Finished harvest early this week. Overall, the crop was fair to good and fruit quality seemed to be consistent.
Conventional Tomatoes – We are about mid-way through harvest and it is going well. The late season crop is looking good as well. Temperatures this week and last have been slightly below normal. The fruit looks great and we are anticipating another year of flavorful tomatoes.
Cherries
The cherry season finished up on August 10th. Tonnage was down from our pre-season estimate due to a strong fresh market demand and a crop reduction from last year by over 20%.
Grapes
Grape deliveries are going well and quality has been great overall. Harvest is expected to finish up this week.