The cantaloupe season in Colorado is almost finished for the year. It's an earlier than usual end to the season, which followed an early start, prompted by hot weather. There were a few rain events, but nothing significant. Generally, conditions have been exactly as growers wished for and as a result, yields have been up.
"We have another week to go or so of our cantaloupe season here in Colorado," said Michael Hirakata of Hirakata Farms in Rocky Ford. "The season started about 10 days early and will finish a week to ten days early as well. With the hear, everything was pushed up somewhat. It's been a hot and dry summer for the most part and the weather has been as good as we could have hoped for."
"Although acreage is down, volume is slightly above normal," he continued. "Yields have been higher this year and we have been picking almost every cantaloupe coming out of the ground."
Local market excellent
Compared with California and the Midwest, Colorado is a relatively minor player in the cantaloupe market. However, they have carved a niche by focusing on those states directly surrounding them. As a result, Colorado growers have enjoyed quite a good market, as opposed to their counterparts in California for example.
"The market in our local region has been excellent," Hirakata explained. "There is good demand and supply is just enough to satisfy that demand. We stay close to our front range, supplying our direct neighbors including Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma and as far as Missouri. In this way, we avoid directly competing with California and Indiana."
Growing to order
Another way that Hirakata Farms maintains a good market share is by growing cantaloupe to order. This ensures they have a market and they are not growing too much before having arrangements in place. "Here at Hirakata Farms, we plant just enough based on the orders we have," Hirakata shared. "Our acreage is planned and set up during the winter when we receive the majority of our orders."
The company have also recently switched their cantaloupe variety which Hirakata said is working out well for them. "We have switched all our seed stock to the Eastern Shipper 'Athena', moving away from the Western Shipper varieties. The Athena melon has excellent flavor and great sweetness, and it has worked out well for us. We will also be starting our pumpkins crop soon and at this stage, it's looking like a great pumpkin season coming up."
For more information:
Michael Hirakata
Hirakata Farms
Tel: +1 (719) 254-7614
mhirakata@yahoo.com
www.hirakatafarms.com