“This year’s California pomegranate crop is looking good,” says Jeff Kramm with Crown Jewels Produce. The pomegranate trees are much healthier as there was more water for irrigation available this growing season. “We were able to use fresh water instead of pumping water,” Kramm added. Although the trees look much healthier, it takes a couple of years before the positive effect of increased water availability is reflected in the yields.”
Crown Jewel's premium label Silver Peak. This is the Early Wonderful variety, packed last Friday.
Compared to last year, harvest starts a week to 10 days later. “We just finished the Early Wonderfuls. This variety makes up a small share of our total volume, but it is enough the supply our customers in the beginning of the season,” Kramm said.
On October 16, harvest of the main Wonderful variety will start and harvest runs for two to three weeks. “The fruit on the trees is looking promising; it has good color and the size is uniform. The heat this summer really didn’t impact the crop too much, so we are looking forward to a good year.”
Internal color of Early Wonderfuls
Popular export product
After harvest, the fruit is brought in to the packing sheds and packed in cartons. “We do 2-layer cartons for the domestic market and single layers for the export market,” mentioned Kramm. In addition to the domestic market, Crown Jewel’s pomegranates make their way into Korea, Japan and Australia. “Demand from the export market is high, but growing the export program doesn’t always work out. The fruit has to meet the specs to increase the production. We want to make sure we meet demand from for our domestic customers, too.”
Early Wonderfuls packed under the Crown Jewels label
For more information:
Jeff Kramm
Crown Jewels Produce
Tel: 559-438-2335