Sunny Valley International’s South Carolina peach harvest was anticipated to begin May 20.

“Our growing partners in Monetta, South Carolina, Cotton Hope Farms, expects to begin harvesting the Flavorich peach variety on May 20,” Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International Inc., headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, told The Produce News May 6. “This is about two weeks later than they started last year.”

Cotton Hope Farms is owned by the Dubose family. It has been in business for multiple generations, and all the family members overseeing the operation today have degrees in horticulture.

Tristan and Mike Dubose of Cotton Hope Farms, grower-partners of Sunny Valley International.“Last year they implemented 100 percent drip irrigation,” said Mr. Von Rohr. “You can’t always depend on the weather for the rainfall that the peach crop needs, so this was a major advancement for the farm.”

Cotton Hope Farms’ work force is under the H-2A program, which falls under the guidance of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Mr. Von Rohr credited participation in the program with preventing a labor shortage problem at Cotton Hope Farms.

Besides its conventional packaging of volume-filled, two-layer Panta packs Sunny Valley also offers a three-pound clamshell pack of South Carolina peaches.

“And we also now have a four-pound gift box, similar to a clubstore pack,” Mr. Von Rohr added. “It has ten two-and-seven-eighths-inch peaches in the box, and is a perfect item for people to bring to a special event or a picnic, and it even makes a great dinner gift. The cardboard crate has individual cells to protect the peaches, which are hand-packed to ensure the highest color and maturity rate.”

Mr. Von Rohr said that the timing of the South Carolina peach crop should not cause an oversupply problem, because it is normal for it to overlap with New Jersey’s peach season a little.

“South Carolina’s start is always with limited volumes and then it picks up around the middle to later part of June,” he said. “The program will run into late August, when New Jersey is also picking, so there’s always a bit of an overlap. We don’t anticipate any issues out of the ordinary with this year’s crop.”

Cotton Hope Farms is third-party audited by PrimusLabs, so it meets the Global Food Safety Initiative, commonly referred to as GFSI, food-safety standard level.

Sunny Valley International and Cotton Hope Farms are active with the South Carolina Peach Council, a program that is under the direction of the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. The organization’s goals are to promote, advance and protect the growing, harvesting and marketing of peaches in South Carolina.

“We attend council meetings regularly,” said Mr. Von Rohr. “The organization is very helpful in promoting the state’s peach crop, and they engage in a strong and effective locally grown program.”

The South Carolina peach crop is good-quality this year. Mr. Von Rohr said there were just enough chill hours to get the peaches to maturity in perfect condition, and with nice volumes.

“I’m guessing that peach prices will be about the same, or perhaps a little higher, than they were last year,” Mr. Von Rohr noted. “We’re always hopeful that we can get more for our growing partners because they face such high production expenses.”

Sunny Valley International may also have white-flesh peaches out of South Carolina this year.

“The yellow-flesh peach is predominant there however,” Mr. Von Rohr added. “Cotton Hope Farms will have 550,000 boxes of yellow-flesh peaches this year, and about 30,000 boxes of white-flesh. The Dubose family produces between 40 and 50 varieties of peaches. The majority is grown for the commercial market.”