The Chilean peach season has wrapped up and the Florida crop has taken over to supply customers in the United States. Titan Farms has been growing peaches in Florida for the past three years and have found it to be a great addition to their South Carolina season.
Bridging the Chile-South Carolina gap
“The Florida season allows us to bridge the gap we usually see between the Chile and the South Carolina seasons,” says Ross Williams of Titan Farms. “While our operations in Florida are still small – about 340 acres, compared with our 6000 acres in South Carolina – we’re able to ensure that the Titan Brand is in stores supplying peaches from mid-March through September.”
Titan Farms’ Florida crop grows in Fort Pierce and in Bartow. This year, they began their harvest around the 1st of March. “Those were very small volumes, but about two weeks ago the packageable volumes started coming in. Right now, we’re seeing good volumes and we expect to see peak volumes in the next couple of weeks. The season should run right up to the start of the South Carolina season which is due to start in mid-May,” Williams shares.
Good volumes and quality
The volumes coming out of Florida are similar to previous years, according to Williams. “There might be a slight increase over previous years, around 10-15%. We had a good pollination period so there are higher fruit counts on the trees, meaning we should have more packable volumes.”
The sizes of the Florida peaches this season are average, Williams says. “The Florida peaches tend to be a little smaller than the South Carolina peaches, but that definitely shouldn’t dissuade you from purchasing them because they have really excellent flavor, ripen well and have good shelf life. This year, the quality has been really good: aesthetically there is minimal blemishing and the ripening and flavor are better than ever.”
Florida season compared with South Carolina season
The Florida peach season is very different than the South Carolina peach season, Williams shares. “There’s a really different set of challenges with the Florida season. One of the biggest is that of crop consistency because in Florida the trees bloom several times, so you end up harvesting 15 to 20 times, while in South Carolina this is only 4 to 5 times. In Florida there’s blooms in December, February, and March and each of these are harvested separately. This makes the harvest and caretaking costs much higher, but it’s something we are working on improving. The goal is to generate more efficiency in the programs to increase the Florida volumes and be able to supply more people with these peaches.”
The South Carolina season is set to start mid-May and so far the outlook is good. Williams shares: “Right now we are seeing adequate chill hours for the South Carolina varieties. The blooms have pretty much finished and the fruit is beginning to set on the tree. We’re anticipating good flavor and volume on this crop.”
Steady demand on Florida peaches
Titan Farms has been fulfilling their retail orders for the past week and a half, and up until now the market has been good. “We anticipated a possible slow-down in demand because of the pandemic, but so far the demand has been good. We do season-long pricing on the Florida crop because the volumes are much lower than the main South Carolina season. So overall, the market has been steady,” Williams says.
He adds: “We have several new customers this year who haven’t carried the Florida peaches before, which is great. The goal is to increase the awareness of the Florida peach season because they’re really great quality and the window perfectly complements the other seasons.”
“Due to the crisis and consumer worries, we have had some requests to move away from bulk product to packaged product for some retailers. We offer a variety of packaging options and are always focused on satisfying the consumer, so we are able to accommodate this request with our 2-lb bags and clamshell options. The Florida peaches are a great way to jump into spring, they’re hard to beat,” Williams concludes.
For more information:
Ross Williams
Titan Farms
Tel: (803) 685-5381
Email: [email protected]
www.titanfarms.com