After a cooler-than-normal spring, a somewhat later stone fruit season is in store for the Pacific Northwest this year, but harvest is bringing both great quality and increased volume – particularly in organics – to Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers.
The Wenatchee, WA-based grower-shipper is looking for the season’s volumes to be up between 20 and 30 percent over last year with harvest starting around June 20 for organic and conventional apricots.
Grown in the Yakima region, the highly flavorful apricots, nectarines, peaches, pluots and Italian prunes from Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers meet late season demand as other areas wind down.
According to Scott Marboe, OSRG marketing director, 2017’s chilly spring set the stone fruit bloom back two to three weeks compared to 2016, but the overall crop is maturing beautifully and abundantly.
Apricots
“We are expecting volume increases of 20 to 30 percent, especially on our apricots,” Marboe said. The apricots will ship through mid-August, and peak promotion time will fall during the first three weeks of July. Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers is packing the fruit in its increasingly popular pouch bags.
Bruce Turner, national marketing representative for OSRG, noted that organic apricots have made significant gains in popularity, and OSRG is both planting new trees and converting existing acreage to organic.
“Most of the new organic apricots are the Robada variety,” Turner said, adding that the Robada is larger than other apricots, with terrific flavor and color. “Our warm days and cool nights produce great eating stone fruit with exceptional color. It really is the best eating fruit available,” Turner said.
“The organic apricots are packed in the Starr Ranch Organics label and high color varieties will packed in the Gourmet label,” Turner said. “The Gourmet program was brought back due to the high demand from last year. Only the best color and best flavor is packed in this label, and consumers can’t get enough of them!”
Apricots in the “Gourmet” package. Photo by Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers.
Peaches
Peach harvest is expected to begin around July 20, and the season will go to the end of August. Organic peaches will start Aug. 5, Turner said. Peak promotion time for the fruit will be the middle weeks of August.
Nectarines
Both organic and conventional nectarines are expected to start July 25, and they will ship through the end of August. Turner said best promotion time for nectarines will be the first three weeks of July, and he added that a new organic white nectarine has been added to the mix this year. That variety will start Aug. 20 and finish the first week of September.
Italian prunes
Conventional Italian fresh prunes will start the first week of August and finish the end of the month.
Pluot
And the last stone fruit item to ship from OSRG will be an organic pluot. The Flavor Grenade variety will start Sept. 1 and run for two weeks.
Turner said Oneonta’s commitment to organic stone continues to grow, and this year one-third of the production is certified. “Our plan is for the majority of our trees to be organic in the next two to three years,” he said, adding that each item is increasing in organic production now.
For additional information:
Scott Marboe
Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers
Tel: 509-888-5120
