“Our growing partner, Cotton Hope Farms in Monetta, South Carolina, expects that the company’s crop of peaches will be slower than normal out of the gate this year because of an early blast of cold that hit its orchards,” Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International Inc., headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, said May 5. “This means that our customers will have to wait a little later to enjoy the company’s flavorful southern peaches.”

Sunny Valley has been a supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables to the North American market since 1986. Domestic fresh fruits were added in the mid-1990s. Some of its most important fresh produce products include table grapes, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, pears, apples, Spanish clementines and avocados.

Von Rohr said the company is expecting the volume of early variety peaches to be cut back from May into mid-June.

“However, we are anticipating getting get back on track by late June to early July, just in time for some good summer demand,” he said. “Cotton Hope Farms’ orchards had plenty of chill hours and moisture over the winter months, which yields excellent quality and good size peaches for July and August.”

Cotton Hope Farms is owned by the Dubose family, a proud family that takes great pride in its peach operation. The company has been in business for multiple generations, and is highly recognized for its high-quality fresh produce.

“Cotton Hope Farms’ workforce is under the H2A program, which falls under the guidance of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services,” said Von Rohr. “This is why the company does not suffer with labor shortage problems.

“The farm is third-party-audited by Primus Labs, so it meets the he Global Food Safety Initiative, commonly referred to as GFSI, food-safety standard level,” he added.

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

“The organization is very helpful in promoting the state’s peach crop, and they engage in a strong and effective locally grown program,” he said.