Cold weather slows start of Florida peaches

Florida peach season is kicking off after a slightly delayed start.

“We’re starting this week with peaches,” says Al Finch of Dundee, Fl.-based Florida Classic Growers. “We’ve had a delay due to the cool weather in March. It’s delayed our start by a couple of weeks.” Traditionally peaches begin roughly March 20th and go until early May. However, this year Finch says the early April start on its ready-to-eat tree-ripened Florida peaches means they should be available in the marketplace until May 25st.

Window of opportunity
“Florida has a unique window of exclusivity during the month of April and historically we start as Chile finishes its season and ends before other peach programs begin (i.e., California, Georgia and South Carolina),” Finch adds. This is the 9th year Florida Classic Growers has been marketing Florida “Ready to Eat” Peaches.

Thanks to proper chill hours this season and the trees having a little more age on them, the volume of peaches will be up over last year’s supply. “We’ll ship over a million lbs. of peaches this season,” he says.

Maximizing time
Looking ahead, we’ll begin to ramp up our volume fast. “Our peak weeks of volume will be the weeks of April 23, April 30th and May 7th,” Finch says. “We’re excited about the upcoming season.

For more information:
Al Finch
Florida Classic Growers
Tel: +1 (863) 438-2209
al.finch@flclassic.com
www.flclassic.com