Apple orchards today, with their planar orientation, can look more like grapevines than trees. They have a lot of advantages — more light on the fruit, easier for picking, pruning, etc., some day with machines — and Greg Lang wondered if stone fruit would also benefit from such treatment. Lang, who until retiring a couple years ago wrote a stone fruit column for American Fruit Grower about cherries and occasionally about peaches, found that it appears they do.
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About 50 members of the International Fruit Tree Association toured California's Central Valley recently under a broiling July sun, learning how stone fruit, in particular, is produced by growers in one of the world's top production regions.
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Lodi Farming’s Jeff Colombini of Lodi, CA shows off what’s become something of a rarity in California’s San Joaquin Valley – an apple orchard. While other growers have switched to mechanized crops such as almonds, Colombini, a former chairman of USApple, is determined to hang on. That said, he’s also growing a newer crop for the U.S., olives for premium extra virgin oil. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Tim Sambado, President of Prima Frutta in Linden, CA, shows off a cherry orchard planted at a higher elevation, away from his other orchards. The block is so exposed, he decided from the beginning to cover it completely with netting. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Drew Ketelsen of HMC Farms in Kingsburg, CA talks about his experiences in converting all the company's peach, nectarine, and plum (shown here) orchards so they can be machine-farmed. In the background is IFTA Research Director and tour chief Greg Lang of Michigan State University, a former American Fruit Grower columnist. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Though HMC's Ketelsen says orchard netting represents a high initial investment, it does allow him to sleep peacefully because these plums are protected against hail, etc. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Kevin Day, retired University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser and current American Fruit Grower columnist, shows off the "Peach and Nectarine Orchard of the Future." The orchard, which was planted 10 years ago, has been valuable in showing growers the performance of various rootstock/variety combinations. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Erick Stonebarger, Chinchiolo Stemilt California of Lodi, CA, shows tour guests how much a cherry tree will grow in California in a single year. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Johnny Diepersloot of Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg, CA, tells tour-goers he wishes he could ship more fruit, such as these red nectarines, to Asia. What's preventing him? "It's all politics," he says, shaking his head. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Red nectarines such as these, which have nearly 100% color coverage, would do well in Asia, says Kingsburg's Diepersloot. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Leith Gardner took over Zaiger Genetics in Modesto, CA a few years ago after her dad, the founder, passed away. Here in the greenhouse, she shows tour-goers how fruit trees get their start. (Photo: David Eddy)
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After the young trees sprout in the greenhouse, they are constantly watered, getting a spritz of water every minute. (Photo: David Eddy)
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Tour attendees were eager to take part in the fruit tastings at Zaiger Genetics in Modesto, CA.(Photo: David Eddy)
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The fruit sampled by the tour-goers included plum cherries, as Zaiger has been crossing they two types of fruits for decades. This particular plum cherry is exclusive to a single grower, John Warmerdam of Hanford, CA, who calls them Very Cherry Plums. (Photo: David Eddy)
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John Warmerdam, Warmerdam Orchards of Hanford, CA, says growing and selling Very Cherry Plums have been an interesting experience - and highly profitable. This past year, he says they were selling at retail for $3.99 a pound - one dollar more per pound than cherries. (Photo: David Eddy)
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The tour ended, appropriately enough, at a farm that emphasizes the flavor of the fruit above all else. Family Tree Farms, Reedley, CA, built their own research center right on Highway 99 - the valley's main artery. Their slogan, appropriately enough: "The Most Flavorful Fruit in the World." (Photo: David Eddy)
Lang, now Research Director of the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA), recently hosted a tour of California’s San Joaquin Valley, where most of this great nation’s peaches, plums, and nectarines are grown. Lang was pleased to see many are farmed similarly to apples, although stone fruits require greater spacing than apples; just how much remains open for debate.
One highlight of the tour was visiting Kevin Day, retired University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser and current American Fruit Grower columnist, at the “Peach and Nectarine Orchard of the Future” at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier. The orchard, which was planted 10 years ago, has been valuable in showing growers the performance of various rootstock/variety combinations.
Overall, traveling down Highway 99 from Sacramento to Fresno, the tour visited — in addition to one breeder — a total of nine growers: Robert Acero, Stemilt-Chinchiolo, Rivermaid, HMC Farms, Lodi Farming, Prima Frutta, Kingsburg Orchards, Warmerdam Packing, and Family Tree Farms, which seemed an appropriate way to end the tour. Those on the tour enjoyed a stone fruit tasting at Family Tree, where the sign outside proclaims, “The Most Flavorful Fruit in the World.”
Check out more highlight from the tour by scrolling through the photo gallery above.
September 7, 2024 
