California peaches and plums to ship into October

Overview of peaches and plums from California in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on September 12, 2024.

While California fall stone fruit items for the industry are plums and yellow peaches, other stone fruit items are wrapping up shortly. Peaches in the state have historically gone into October, and plums even later, though the longevity of both items depends on the weather and product quality, says Jon McClarty of HMC Farms.

The varieties of stone fruit that are finishing are doing so at a fairly normal time of year. “Generally this was a very hard season on stone fruit weather-wise. There has been a lot of heat, and also some small rain events that have had an impact–even months down the road. A bit of that manifested itself at the end with a lot of fruit dropping off the trees. There is always drop but it is a bit more pronounced than normal but it doesn’t affect the fruit that makes it into the box,” says McClarty.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Quality on peaches

The fruit that is still shipping is good quality due to strict grading during packout. “I feel that right now the quality on peaches is a bit better than it has been for a while,” says McClarty.

As for demand, the supply and demand seem to be in line, unlike last year when supplies were devastated by August’s storm that dropped three to five inches of rain on the valley floor.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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