The California stone fruit crop has had it’s share of weather problems this year. The crop seemed to headed for a large bloom and good set when it was hit in March with cold temperatures. Peaches, apricots and other fruits were hit hard in some areas. Most of the damage came north of Sacramento. It was especially hard on the almond crop in that area, but cling peaches were affected as well. Another frost event in April caused more loss of fruit in that same area. There have been a couple of rain events with hail occurring in places as well this year. The current state of the crop depends on which area you look at. It looks like the freestone peach crop near Fresno will be good in areas where there hasn’t been hail damage. The crop did not set heavy this year, but there should be a good crop for the most part. The earliest apricot blocks did not set well, but later blocks look OK. That seems to be the case with all stone fruit this year. Some areas will be good while other will not be. It has made estimating the crop this year somewhat difficult. The crop timing looks average. Fruit is just starting to get packed for the fresh market from the earliest varieties in Central California. The market should be good this year. Processing demand is extremely strong this year as well.
