BOWIE, AZ -- The first commercial harvest of pomegranates at Hurley Bowie Pomegranates was set to kick off as September begins.

The orchard, located about 100 miles east of Tucson in southeastern Arizona, is thought to be Arizona’s only commercial pomegranate orchard. It is owned by 75-year-old Marshall Turley, who is also a grower of apples and other commodities in nearby Chihuahua, Mexico. The farm is managed by Turley’s nephew, Larry Romney.

During an Aug. 27 tour of the facility, Romney said the season’s first picking would occur Aug. 31. The fruit will be packed and distributed by GreenPoint LLC in Rio Rico, AZ.

GreenPoint representatives were going to be involved in the initial harvesting to direct what fruit would qualify for the fresh market. While the processing market is not a priority for the farm, there is a juice processing plant in Wilcox, AZ, that can convert off-grade fruit to juice.

The orchard’s operators tested Brix levels on ripe pomegranates and consistently found readings at or near 18.

Romney said the Smith variety would be the first to be harvested on the 92-acre plantation. Smith is Bowie Pomegranate’s trading name for a patented variety known as “Angel Red.” Three year old Smith trees will be picked three times, ending in the third week of September. Then a second variety, “Wonderful” will be harvested for three weeks, beginning Oct. 1.

Omar Losolla of GreenPoint said this orchard wouldn’t reach maturity for four years. This year’s small commercial volumes will be sold to in-state retailers as “local” product.

Romney said Smith’s “excellent quality” should compete well with California’s Early Foothill and Granada pomegranate varieties.

But all involved recognize the overwhelming volume advantage held by the California’s sophisticated pomegranate industry. Romney said this competitive position is one of the reasons GreenPoint was chosen to distribute the fruit.

With GreenPoint shipping a variety of fresh produce from Rio Rico, the pomegranate offering can be placed in small pallet quantities on mixed loads.

Romney said the Wonderful variety was first planted in 2010 and Smith the following year. In the winter of 2011-12 the area was hit by an epic cold snap that froze the 30,000 pomegranate trees to the ground. Of those, about 25,000 trees survived and are now flourishing.

Bowie is 3,700 feet above sea level, which brings cool nights needed for deep-red skin color and sweet fruit.

The University of Arizona in Tucson is cooperating with this orchard in testing new pomegranate varieties.