With Ontario peaches being harvested since late July, Niagara’s season is looking quite good so far. “We’ve certainly (had) ample rain. Last year was a drought. It’s the complete opposite,” says Sarah Marshall of Ontario Tender Fruit. She said sizing will also benefit from the rain, even with some of the weather being up and down in terms of cool nights and hot days. The Niagara area can be prone to hail, but Marshall says it generally falls away from the main growing areas. “It’s a bit erratic but that’s sort of becoming the norm – those fluctuations.” The season will wrap up around the week of September 11.
Freestone variety most popular
The freestone variety is most popular, which is in the later weeks; early varieties are known as clingstone. “People are always anxious for peach season to start,” says Marshall. Very little Niagara peaches go into processing. After the closure of a major processing plant in 2007, only one main processeor in the area remains. She says there’s also a growing market for the beverage market. “There is a bit of a market now for cider (peach and pear).”
Mostly sold within Ontario
There’s essentially no export market for Niagara’s peaches, according to Marshall. “What’s grown in Ontario typically gets sold out here but they do also ship across Canada.” Quebec is a large consumer of Niagara peaches as well as Western Canada. The increased retail presence with stores like Walmart has helped the fruit into other jurisdictions across Canada. “That really helps us get into those markets when they expand because we’re already used to the logistics of shipping and purchasing platforms through those channels.”
Strong support for local
“We’re having a pretty good year so far,” agrees Phil Tregunno of Tregunno Fruit Farms and Chairman of the Ontario Tender Fruit Growers, Chairman of Vineland Growers’ Co-operative,. “The support for local is very strong and the exchange rate really helps too with the US dollar and the fact that there’s not a lot of peaches in the US.” He says even though there’s a California crop they’re having to fill in the gaps from Georgia and South Carolina's crop loss. “We have a really good handle on the local market. New Jersey does have a big crop but their pricing is good because all the other jurisdictions are down.”
All Niagara tree fruit crops doing well
Tregunno says they’ve had excellent crops so far on many types of tree fruit: plum, nectarines and of course peaches. “On most of the commodities we’ve got it looks like we’ll be tracking a little higher.” The current varieties of nectarines are much better. “It used to be we had a late nectarine deal, but now we have them right from the beginning of peach season all the way to late.” It has helped for establishing a stronger domestic market also. “It used to be the Niagara deal was just peaches but now maybe we’re taking away some of the imports by growing our own nectarines.” In the past they’d be sourced from New Jersey or California. “We can offer a tree ripened nectarines – and peaches – instead of them being on the road so long.”
For more information:
Sarah Marshall
Ontario Tender Fruit
Tel: (905) 688-0990
Phil Tregunno
Tregunno Fruit Farms
Tel: (905) 262-4755