Business
Dry Spring Trims Stone-Fruit Harvest, but Growers Report Steady Prices
Regional orchards are reporting yields down roughly nine percent on last year. A shorter shipping season and firm wholesale demand have kept most operations close to break-even.
Stone-fruit growers across the county are finishing one of the shortest harvests in a decade, with early figures from the regional growers' association showing yields down about nine percent against last season.
The cause is not in dispute. Rainfall between February and April came in at roughly 60 percent of the ten-year average, and a warm stretch in early May pushed ripening ahead of schedule. Picking began eleven days earlier than usual at most operations.
"Smaller fruit, less of it, and it all came at once," said Anita Sorrell, who farms 180 acres of peaches and nectarines outside Kettleman Valley. "The compressed window is honestly the harder part. You need the same crews in half the time."
Prices have absorbed some of the difference. Wholesale rates are running six to eight percent above last summer, which growers attribute to comparable shortfalls in neighboring counties rather than to any local advantage.
The association's July report estimates that most mid-sized operations will finish the season within a few percentage points of break-even. Smaller orchards without their own cold storage are expected to fare worse, since the compressed harvest left them competing for packing-house slots.
Labor costs rose about four percent year over year, driven mostly by overtime during the two-week peak.
Growers polled by the association listed water allocation for next season as their principal concern, ahead of prices, labor and equipment. The county water district is scheduled to publish preliminary 2027 allocations in November.
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