Peaches Continued from Page 1
UC Davis researchers are also working on the next generation of harvesters that shake the tree and avoid bruising the soft fruit. But these systems are years away from use in orchards, said Rich Hudgins, presi- dent and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association. In 2022, about 10% of California cling peaches were mechanically harvested. Hudgins said he anticipates the percent- age of peaches harvested by machine will increase slightly this year. “For us to be successful in converting to more mechanical harvest in our orchards, we need peaches that have firm enough pressure to withstand the mechanical harvest process,” Hudgins said. “We have to have uniform ripening so that all of the peaches have proper maturity when re- moved from the tree.” Hudgins added that shorter trees on semi-dwarf rootstock are promising and would help growers reduce labor costs, which are 70% of a grower’s total costs. Shorter trees mean pickers spend less time on the ladder and more time picking fruit closer to the ground. “California growers are the best in the world as far as production efficiency, but we are also one of the highest-cost pro- ducers in the world given our labor costs and the regulatory climate in the state,” Hudgins said. “The answer for us long term will be to reduce our labor component and play to our strength in being efficient pro- ducers with high-yielding varieties.” Bains said he believes new technology such as mechanization and robotics are the future. “It’s far away, but it’s not that far away,” he said. “That (robotic) technology will trickle down into farming. Maybe I will see it in 15 years.” (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
Growers have about 50 commercial varieties to choose from, but a dwindling labor supply and a changing climate mean new varieties are needed. Gradziel maintains 40 acres of peach va- rieties at the university’s Foundation Plant Services in Davis, and another 40 acres of parent stock at the UC Davis Wolfskill Experimental Orchard in Winters. “Breeding programs like ours are pipe- lines,” Gradziel said, noting that breeding new varieties requires up to a 40-year com- mitment with years of testing by the uni- versity and field trials by growers before a variety is introduced. “Every year, you’re putting in new ma- terial and bringing out material from that previous five to 10 years, so it’s a constant progression,” Gradziel said. To develop the “stay-ripe” trait, which allows the fruit to remain on the tree lon- ger without deteriorating, he brought genes in from two related species—al- monds and wild peach. The trait brings cling peach growers a step closer to mechanized harvest in which only one pass may be needed. Flavor is essential, Gradziel said, not- ing the fruit must have good soluble solids and a good sugar-acid ratio. Other traits Gradziel brings in include firmness, dis- ease resistance, pest resistance, tolerance to heat and tolerance to salinity.
Peach prospects undergoing testing include Vilmos, Kader, Shuler and Ogawa. They feature a “stay-ripe” trait to keep them on the tree longer so growers can harvest by machine in one pass.
“As we’re looking at this new germplasm that has a whole range of new characteris- tics, we’re looking for things like the stay- ripe characteristic, things that are more mechanically harvestable and where, even under low chill, we get uniform flowering and good fruit set,” Gradziel said. At Wolfskill, from the parental blocks, Gradziel said he has a one- to two-week window to generate about 10,000 success- ful crosses. Ten-thousand seedlings may offer a 20% set, so he needs 50,000 to 80,000 new crosses annually. Tested for 20 years, the early-season Kader variety can fill a gap in supply for canneries, while also ticking other boxes. Gradziel noted that Kader produces uni- form flowers under low chill, so he said he
is confident it will do better than traditional varieties. Plus, it has the stay-ripe trait. It remains to be seen whether Kader will do well in all cling peach-growing regions, he said. The university’s Schuler, another early-season, stay-ripe variety, contains a gene that shuts down red pigment in the fruit and reduces pit staining. “As a farmer, you want the best pro- ducing varieties,” said Robbie Bains, who grows cling peaches in Sutter and Yuba counties and operates a custom harvest- ing business. He said farmers must have varieties for canners throughout the growing sea- son, and some varieties work better ma- chine-harvested than others. To limit fruit damage, Bains modified his “catch-frame” harvesting machines to have a lighter touch, and he tries to grow firmer varieties such as the Kingsburg Kling. “For mechanical harvesting, you want the fruit to be a little bit on the greener side, so it’s a firmer peach and can take a little bit more of the blow as it goes,” Bains said. “If you pick it mechanically, it still looks really good when we put it in the bin, but it deteriorates a lot faster, so it is just a matter of how quickly we can get it into a can.”
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