“The New Jersey peach crop is expected to have a normal start this year,” Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International headquartered in Glassboro, NJ, told The Produce News in mid-June. “The winter chill and good moisture has combined to help ensure a nice crop this coming season.”

Von Rohr noted the peach trees had an outstanding bloom by around April 18, and with a full crop set, stressing that Sunny Valley is expecting a good crop that is on track for its normal seasonal movement start during the week of July 7.

“Good volumes of peaches will be available by mid-July,” he added. “Peak volumes will come on the later weeks of July. The crop will run through the end of September.”

New Jersey nectarines have long been a favorite of consumers due to their high color and excellent eating quality, Von Rohr said. But this season the company expects to see a limited amount of New Jersey nectarines and white peaches because of earlier weather issues.

Von Rohr said that New Jersey has some really nice late-season peach varieties that don’t get out to the retail trade as well as they could.

Retailers, he noted, can capitalize on extra sales rings by promoting New Jersey peaches during September because they make a great item for back-to-school lunch boxes.

“A post-Labor Day trend has retailers wanting to back off on peaches,” he said. “Even if they tell us earlier in the season that they’ll want late peaches, they begin cutting us off. Orders tend to drop way down. It’s a shame because we have really outstanding peaches through September each year. We want the late season support to help move this great crop.”

Sunny Valley International is the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the “Jersey Fruit” and “Just Picked” labels.

The company has been a supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables to the North American market since 1986. It added domestic fresh fruits to its lineup in the mid-1990s. Besides peaches and nectarines, the company markets New Jersey and British Columbia blueberries, imported grapes, pears, apples, blueberries and South Carolina peaches.

Von Rohr added that the company’s peach-growing partners have made a commitment to a PrimusLabs food-safety program to ensure the highest level of confidence to its customers.

“Since product traceability plays an integral part of food safety we are implementing the Produce Traceability Initiative with case level coding on an ‘as requested’ basis,” he said. “Our growers that focus on sustainability include Larchmont Farms, our largest peach grower in New Jersey. The company has installed solar panels to power the packinghouse facility. All our Jersey peach and blueberry growers participate in an Integrated Pest Management program that emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems. And it encourages natural pest control. Supporting local grown produce helps reduce the carbon footprint.”

Sunny Valley is known to be a reliable supplier of key fruit items through its long-term relationships with growers and exporters as well as its industry expertise and experience.

“We know who the players are and how to bring a quality fruit product to market,” said Von Rohr. “We are committed to developing and maintaining long-term relationships with our growers, exporters and customers that allows us to conduct fair and honest trade in the produce industry.”