AndNowUKNow - California Stone Fruit - The Bloom

How did California's late winter weather affect stone fruit production? We spoke with several suppliers throughout the San Joaquin Valley to get the latest.

Gene Coughlin, Stone Fruit Category Manager from Sun World, stated, "The weather right now is not really affecting the fruit. It was the weather back in the early Spring, with a lot of hail, rain and wind, which caused some damage to certain areas of the valley and we got hit with hail damage on both apricots and plums. Right now, the weather is a little warmer than normal, but it's fine for the stone fruit. The sizing and quality on our mid and late season plums look to be very good.

Jeannine Martin, Director of Sales at Giumarra Companies, added, "As we pack everyday, our packouts are improving, the quality and brix is starting to come back, so we're excited about that. Supply on Whites and Plums seem to be a little bit tight. There is plenty of peach supply."

Dan Spain, VP of Sales and Marketing for Kingsburg, said, "For the pluots, it's been ideal because we had the cooler weather, which helps them size up a little bit more, get more nutrients in, and now we have this slow escalating heat, which started 70, 80, 90, so it's just been ideal for us in that product. As we're looking right now, most of the product coming off is in the minimum of 14-15 brix.

Thanks again Gene, Dan, and Jeannine! This is "The Bloom!"

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