New Jersey peach growers optimistic about crop

New Jersey peach growers have seen another unusual winter with a warmer than usual February followed by a cool March, but are optimistic about their crop as orchards move into full bloom.

“My crop of flowers is heavy on all peach and nectarine varieties,” said Santo John Maccherone, owner of Circle M Fruit Farms, Salem, N.J., and chairman of the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council, in a news release.

Circle M grows white and yellow flesh peaches and nectarines, along with flat peaches and oriental plums, and expects to pick and market its first peaches in late June and early July, according to the release.

“We continue to expand our peach and nectarine plantings and are optimistic about the abundant flowers which will set up a full crop of peaches and nectarines,” Lewis DeEugenio, owner of Summit City Farms and Winery near Glassboro, N.J., and president of Jersey Fruit Marketing Cooperative in Glassboro, said in the release.

The company put in a specialty pack line at Eastern Pro Pak, Glassboro, which packs for Summit City and other growers under the Jersey Fruit brand, DeEugenio said.

New Jersey growers have about 5500 acres of peaches and nectarines, according to National Peach Council statistics, and expect to harvest between 55-60 million pounds of fruit in 2018, according to the release.

“We are always optimistic at this time of year, but we still have a long way until we pick and market the fruit, and lots of things can happen to reduce the crop,” Maccherone said in the release.