SWEDESBORO, NJ — Sun Valley Orchards, a grower-shipper that for many years has been well known for peaches, peppers, cucumbers, green squash, eggplant and pickles, is now becoming well known for one of New Jersey’s signature spring items: asparagus.

The company, headquartered here in southern New Jersey, started planting asparagus a number of years ago and in recent years has harvested small amounts of the popular vegetable, but “this is the first full season with good volume for us,” according to Joe Marino, one of the owners of the company. The company currently has 110 acres of asparagus.

Joe Marino with standard-sized green asparagus packed in the ‘Sun Valley Orchards’ label.“Quality has been good,” Marino told The Produce News May 14. “I think if the weather doesn’t get too hot, some varieties of asparagus may go into early June.” He added, “Prices have been good so far. We’re pleased.”

Most asparagus in the state is packed in traditional wooden boxes, but Sun Valley Orchards is going a different route. “We’re one of the few grower-shippers packing asparagus in a plastic box,” said Marino. “I think it’s a cleaner, more professional look.”

Inside those plastic containers are 28 one-pound bunches, the same as the wooden boxes in the rest of the state, he noted.

All of the company’s asparagus is being packed in the “Sun Valley Orchards” label.

The asparagus is providing another benefit to Sun Valley. “It’s helped us with managing our labor force,” Mr. Marino said. Historically, the company has utilized its labor force “to get the peach orchards ready” and during other months for its high-volume vegetable crops in summer and fall. “Asparagus takes [our workforce] through the early period,” he said. “It fits well for what we do. It’s a good complement for us.”

In other company news, the company added some new acreage over the winter. “We did acquire some more ground,” Marino announced. “We were fortunate to pick up another 350 acres. That was back in December [2012]. It’s adjacent to some property that was purchased in 2007.” This additional 350 acres brings Sun Valley’s total acreage to just about 3,000 acres.

Of this newest 350 acres, Sun Valley has planted 175 acres in peppers, which it expects to harvest in early July, according to Marino. The balance also will be planted in peppers for harvest in late summer and fall.

The company is devoting all 350 acres to that one crop partly because “peppers are susceptible to disease, and every year you struggle” with that potential threat, explained Marino. The new acreage was “well rested” and thus “prime land for peppers.”

Concerning the 2013 New Jersey spring produce deal, Marino said that “the season started a little late” as “temperatures were a bit cooler than usual.” Of course, last winter and spring were the warmest in decades, which brought crops on weeks earlier than normal. As Marino put it, “Maybe this year is more in line with normal. It just seems so late compared to last year.”