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Posts Tagged: peaches

California summer fruit smaller and tastier this year

Drought and warm winter weather combine to reduce the size, and increase the taste, of 2015 California stonefruit.
California's summertime stonefruit - peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots - are tending to be smaller in 2015, reported Lesley McClurg on Capital Public Radio. But don't despair. The smaller fruit is typically tastier, said a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) expert.

"That smaller peach this year very likely is sweeter than the moderate-sized peach of last year," said Kevin Day, UC ANR Cooperative Extension advisor and director in Tulare and Kings counties.

Most of the change in fruit size can be attributed to the drought. When irrigation is limited, water content of the fruit diminishes and sugars become a greater proportion of the fruit mass. However, Day says drought isn't the only reason for 2015's smaller fruit size. California also had unusually warm temperatures in January and February 2015, causing fruit to ripen faster.

"A variety that might ripen after 120 days of being on a tree in a year like this ripens in only 110," Day said. "And, so it's consequently shortchanged out of 10 days of growing."

Posted on Monday, August 31, 2015 at 9:38 AM
Tags: apricots (2), Kevin Day (5), nectarines (4), peaches (9), plums (3), stonefruit (2)

UC research on dwarf fruit trees featured on local news

Rootstocks evaluated by UC scientists help control peach tree growth.
Kevin Day, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor for Tulare County, has been comparing the quality of fruit on stone fruit trees pruned conventionally, in hedge rows and other configurations for 17 years. Now he and his colleague Ted DeJong, UCCE specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, are taking a new look at small-sized trees, reported KSEE Channel 24 news in Fresno.

The idea is keeping the fruit trees short so ladders won't be necessary for harvest and other orchard operations, while at the same time maintaining excellent yield and fruit quality.

Day talked to the KSEE news crew in a peach and nectarine orchard at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier. 

"This is good news for farmers and farmworkers," said reporter Theresa Sardina. "This means safer working conditions for workers and less money out of farmers' pockets."

Day said the researchers are trying to better understand the labor savings aspect of small fruit trees, but he believes they will be proven to be significantly more cost effective.

"You can save a minimum of 25 if not up to 50 percent on any particular labor operations," Day said.

The lead agricultural technician at Kearney, Rudolfo Cisneros, was also interviewed for the story.

See the video on the KSEE Channel 24 website.

Posted on Friday, August 15, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Tags: Kevin Day (5), nectarines (4), peaches (9)

Valley farmers are pulling out peaches

Cling peaches.
Low production, low prices and labor issues are plaguing the California cling peach industry and prompting farmers to pull out their orchards in favor of growing something that carries less risk, reported Joshua Emerson Smith in the Merced Sun-Star.

Many environmental factors can significantly compromise a peach harvest, said Maxwell Norton, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Merced County.

"For tree fruit you need to have a greater net profit than you do raising tree nuts because growing tree fruit is so much more risky," he said. "The biggest risk of all is not being able to find enough labor during harvest. Peaches, when they're ripe, you have very few days to harvest."

In the Northern San Joaquin Valley, including Merced and Stanislaus counties, about 8.2 percent of bearing acres for clingstone peaches, or 667 acres, have been pulled out of production this fall, the article said.

Because trees are being pulled out, processors are beginning to increase the price they are offering.

Delhi farmer Glenn Arnold said he's clinging to peaches for now.

"I was happy when I heard the price because it's a fair price," he said. "A hail storm can take your whole crop in two minutes. If you don't get compensated adequately for the risk, you might switch to an alternative."


Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/12/20/2717646/as-peach-acreage-drops-price-for.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/12/20/2717646/as-peach-acreage-drops-price-for.html#storylink=cpy
Posted on Friday, December 21, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Tags: cling peaches (3), Maxwell Norton (11), peaches (9)

Budget cuts felt on agricultural campuses

An article by Ching Lee in today's Ag Alert focused on the effects of budget cuts on agricultural student programs at California universities. "Budget cuts have had a profound effect on all areas of the campus," Diane Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs at UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, told the reporter. She explained the college faces challenges keeping agricultural production facilities, instructional equipment and technologies updated to deliver hands-on education — even though the office has seen student applications increase by 70–80 percent.

Tom Baldwin, dean of UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, also commented on the challenges of serving students in the face of diminishing resources, saying the university is "moving heaven and earth" to do so.

The cuts are being felt at on-campus farms as well. Raoul Adamchak, of the UC Davis Student Farm, explained that the market garden generates its own income and provides a lesson to students on self-sustaining businesses. "Things cost money, and these are part of the expenses of farming, so it has to be factored in. They have to make decisions based on the cost of things and the returns," he said.

Peach association to major retailer: Buy U.S.-grown
Christine Souza, Ag Alert

The California Canning Peach Association has asked Target to consider California fruit for its Market Pantry-brand canned peaches, which are currently a product of China. Wal-Mart carries a comparable product made from California cling peaches, with a lower retail price.

Reporter Christine Souza sought expert commentary from Roberta Cook, UC Cooperative Extension marketing specialist at the Davis campus, on the current market for California cling peaches. "When you are talking about processed items, if another country can produce it a lot cheaper than you, then you will be vulnerable to competition. And consumer preferences have moved towards fresh. So [California cling-peach businesses] are hit by both factors," she told the reporter.

Related ANR News Blog post: Chinese farmers take a bite out of the California cling-peach market

California's cling peaches are facing competition from canned imports.


 

Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Tags: agriculture (4), budget (32), cling peaches (3), peaches (9), Roberta Cook (2), students (3), UC Davis (2), UC Riverside (5)

Yuba/Sutter peach farmer dismayed by 'dirty crop'

UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Janine Hasey told a Willows Journal reporter she is amazed that the peach harvest in Yuba and Sutter counties has begun. Cool spring temperatures mean harvest is expected to be late.

"All we are looking at right now is the extra early," Hasey was quoted in a story published late last week. "As time goes on, we will see what happens with other varieties."

Cooperative Extension recommends pre-harvest fungicide sprays for all varieties to prevent ripe fruit rot.

"Put your first treatment on two to three weeks before harvest," Hasey said.

The article focused on Sutter County farmer Sarb Thiara who is disappointed by brown rot in his peach crop.

"I've never seen it like this," he said. "We call it a dirty crop."

Thiara, a director with the California Canning Peach Association, has farmed peaches for 35 years, but in the last five years he has pulled out 600 acres and replaced them with almonds, walnuts and prunes. He has about 500 acres of peaches left and plans to gradually replace those, too.

"It's very frustrating, the cost of labor, the cost of chemicals, to even get this," Thiara said, according to the article.

Brown rot, seen at left, is a concern for peach growers this year.
Brown rot, seen at left, is a concern for peach growers this year.

Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 at 10:08 AM
Tags: brown rot (1), Janine Hasey (4), Peaches (9)

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