Sunny Valley looking forward to New Jersey peach season
Sunny Valley looking forward to New Jersey peach season
Things are peachy for Sunny Valley International.
“For us, we’re one of the largest suppliers on the East Coast of yellow peaches,” said Tom Beaver, director of sales and marketing for the Glassboro, NJ-based company. “Out of the Southeast, which is ongoing now and started in mid-May, we expect to have yellow peaches through the end of July. We’ve had a great season so far, in terms of the cosmetic quality of the fruit, but also the eating quality has been consistently outstanding.”
As of June 18, the company was gearing up for another New Jersey peach season. The company has marketed New Jersey peaches for nearly three decades and is the exclusive marketing agent for two peach growers that are members of the Jersey Fruit Cooperative as well as Larchmont Farms, the largest stone fruit producer in New Jersey.
Sunny Valley markets yellow and white flesh peaches as well as yellow nectarines under the Jersey Fruit and Just Picked labels and is the largest shipper of New Jersey stone fruit by volume.
“We will be starting with limited volume in the next few weeks and really ramping up by the beginning of July,” Beaver said. “Peaches are a very big part of our overall portfolio and what sets up apart is we are the only supplier of Eastern peaches that has both a Southeast and New Jersey program.”
That allows Sunny Valley to extend its marketing program.
“This allows us to extend the season and ship the best quality varieties throughout the season,” Beaver said. “Typically, we ship New Jersey peaches and nectarines from late-June through Labor Day.”
Out of New Jersey, Sunny Valley ships approximately 700,000 case equivalents of peaches and nectarines and also packs peaches into single-layer trays and bags under the Atlantic Summer and Atlantic Sunrise labels for specific customers.
“I see the specialty packed items increasing in prevalence in peach marketing,” Beaver said. “We are packing a lot of unique pack styles for some customers — a lot of smaller peaches into bags and then we’re doing some custom tray packing for club boxes and larger tray styles. It’s a way for them to differentiate how they are marketing peaches.”
The focus for Sunny Valley has always been to find its customers the best varieties it can so it can offer fantastic fruit all the way through the season.
“There are some very specific varieties that perform particularly well in New Jersey that are uniquely suited for our specific growing conditions,” Beaver said. “A lot of that work is done in collaboration with Rutgers University and some private peach nurseries.”
In New Jersey, it was something of an optimal winter for peaches, with Beaver explaining things were very consistent, which hasn’t been the case in recent years. As such, there were plenty of chill items and plenty of time for the trees to rest.
“We should be getting a big crop and nice size on the peaches and a great flavor profile,” he said. “We were very fortunate this spring. We didn’t have any late freezes after the crop had set, which is something that normally keeps us up at night. But we’re looking at a great crop our of New Jersey and plenty of opportunities for our retailers to do some aggressive promotions and get their customers excited about Eastern peaches.”
