HMC News – May 2021

The stone fruit season is now upon us! At the beginning of the month, we saw considerable volume available with fruit exhibiting mid-season flavor. This year the fruit size is better than last year, and the drought has created weather that is perfect for high sugar development. We have a full stone fruit crop, and it already looks like this could be be a vintage year for great tasting fruit.

Rootstock is a term we use when covering the grafting process. Rootstock is the portion of the tree or vine that establishes the root system underground, hence the name. Because of the makeup of our soil, we often use rootstock combined with scion wood (the upper part of the tree or vine which determines the fruit variety). We carefully select our rootstock based on characteristics such as drought resistance or increased vigor to pair with both the scion wood and the soil type. Because we grow permanent crops, the rootstock we choose is incredibly important. We basically have one chance to get it right, so we carefully research the pairings before planting and grafting. Learn more through  this video on our YouTube channel.

Harvest is now underway for yellow and white nectarines. When compared to last year, nectarines were delayed 3-7 days, and peaches were delayed 1-4 days for early season varieties. Peach sizing is on par, but nectarines are a size to a size and a half smaller than last year’s crop thus far. All of the fruit is exhibiting great flavor and quality. Towards the middle to  end of May, we started full volume peach and nectarine harvest. 

We recently installed a new grading machine at our packing facility in Traver. Last year, we installed the same machine at our plum facility and saw great results, so we’ve added another machine for peaches and nectarines. It performs vision-based defect sorting and removes any fruit not meeting our programmed visual specifications. After going through defect sorting, the fruit is checked by graders before going to packers, so that the packers no longer need to re-grade the fruit. This helps us ensure that only the very best fruit is packed into HMC boxes, and helps deal with the ongoing labor shortage we’ve experienced in more recent years.

HMC News – October 23, 2019

PMA Fresh Summit was a great opportunity to catch up with many of our customers, vendors, and other produce industry contacts. Thank you to those who took the time to stop by our booth and also view our Nickelodeon™ ready-to-eat grape packs in the Fresh Ideas Showcase! We hope you enjoyed a glimpse into what’s new and what we have coming soon. If you didn’t have an opportunity to visit us at Fresh Summit, contact your HMC Farms salesperson for more information on our new products and plans for the coming year.

Crop Update: 

Timco, Allison, and Vintage red seedless grapes and Autumn King green seedless grapes are in active harvest. The forecast shows sunny days with high temperatures in the mid to high 80s over the next few days, dropping off over the weekend to start next week in the mid 70s. There is still no rain in the forecast, which is a little unusual at this point in the year, but we will continue to monitor any chances of precipitation as they arise.

HMC News – October 16, 2019

PMA Fresh Summit is this week in Anaheim, California! Stop by our booth to say hello and learn about our peaches, plums, nectarines, and table grapes. Our Nickelodeon™ ready-to-eat grape packs featuring SpongeBob™ and PAW Patrol™ characters are part of the Fresh Ideas Showcase, so be sure to check them out at the expo! If you haven’t scheduled a meeting with HMC yet, contact your HMC salesperson to confirm remaining time slots.

Crop Update:

Timco and Allison red seedless grapes and Autumn King green seedless grapes are in active harvest. Vintage red seedless grapes are beginning harvest as well. The forecast shows mostly sunny days with high temperatures in the 70s, and overnight low temperatures in the high 40s. This weather pattern of warm days and cool nights is conducive to grape maturity. While there is no imminent threat of precipitation in the forecast, we will continue to monitor any chances of early rain that may arise in the coming weeks.