Peach season arrives across Niagara
Niagara’s peach harvest is shaping up to be, well, just peachy.
Farmers in Niagara-on-theLake started to harvest peaches last week, while those in the region’s west end followed suit this week, in what growers are describing as a good crop. The hot weather has led to some great conditions for the peach crop to flourish.
“The heat really brings out the flavours. Everything ripens nicely,” said Phil Tregunno of Tregunno Family Farms in Niagaraon-the-Lake. “Last year with the rain, we didn’t get the same flavours.”
Yields, he said, are strong this year due to the late spring and the size of the fruit is also good despite a lack of precipitation. Of course, the taste is what matters to consumers.
“With the great growing conditions, they taste really nice this year,” said Dave Hipple of Hipple Farms in Vineland. “Peaches like hot, dry weather and everything really looks great.”
Hipple said west Niagara has been about a week behind Niagara-on-the-Lake in terms of the start of picking, but it is looking forward to a strong season. Hipple says the harvest of peaches can last right through to midSeptember for farmers depending on the varieties they have.
“Hopefully, we will continue to have lots of sun and heat. A bit more rain would be nice, but we have mitigations to get around that,” he said.
Tregunno agreed, saying it would not only help with the size of the fruit, but also allow farmers to save on costs of irrigation.
“We’re definitely in a bit of a deficit in terms of rain, so while heat is good, a little bit of rain would be perfect,” he said. “An inch of rain a week, at night so it doesn’t screw us up, would be the ideal conditions.”
Last year, he said, it was completely different with too much precipitation. Growers across Niagara not only had to battle immense amounts of rain, but also hail damage.
Tregunno, chair of the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board, said the heat in early July has made things on the farm busy. Apricots, plums, nectarines and peaches were all being harvested last week.
“A lot of things started to ripen really quickly at one time,” he said. “It’s been pretty busy with everything coming so quickly.”
Niagara-on-the-Lake has its celebration of peach harvest on Aug. 11.