While a mild winter and a warm spring have contributed to early harvests for many of California's crops, persistent warm conditions have delayed the start of this year's persimmon harvest. As supplies are slow to come on, the market could remain strong for the first weeks of the season.
“We really haven't started on persimmons yet because it's been too warm,” said George Kragie of Western Fresh Marketing. “Normally, we'd be picking at this time of the year. Everything else, like stonefruit, has been early because of warm weather, so the odd thing is that persimmons are picking later because of that warm weather.” Persimmons need cool weather in order to acquire the colour necessary for the fruit to be picked, and with lingering warm conditions, most of the fruit hasn't reached the proper maturity for harvesting. With a delayed harvest, supplies will be light and prices strong.
“We need it to be cool for fruit to get its colour, and the persimmons have not gotten the colour they need,” explained Kragie. “I think the market will react well because there won't be much competition.”
For more information:
George Kragie
Western Fresh Marketing
+1 559 662 0301