Colorado vegetable shipments are moving in pretty normal, steady volume, while the majority of the state’s peach crop was hit hard by a hard freeze during the growing season.
Tuxedo Corn Co. of Olathe, CO, as well as others, began shipping sweet corn early August. The company has about 1670 acres of corn.
Fagerberg Produce Co. of Eaton, CO began loading red, white, yellow and sweet onions in mid-August. The company has 1,500 acres of onion and should be shipping through February.
At Sakata Farms of Brighton, CO, onion loadings have just started from its 400 acres. About 80 percent of the company’s product is yellow onions, with the balance being with red and white onions.
Hirakata Farms of Rocky Ford, CO lost some of its cantaloupe to hail, but the remainder of the melons are in good shape. The company’s watermelon crops will lack yields in some fields this season, but have great yields in others. Still, volume will certainly look good after losing 60 percent of their melons last year to weather.
Hungenberg Produce Inc. of Greeley, CO got underway July 10 with its conventional and organic carrots being shipped through November. The company has 1,200 acres of carrots, with 250 acres being organic.
At Mountain Valley Produce in Center, CO is starting to harvest potatoes this week in the San Luis Valley. Diggings should be complete by October 10th, with loadings taking place into the summer of 2021.
A freeze that dipped into the low 20s last April has resulted in peach shipments being down 85 to 90 percent at Talbot Farms Inc. in Palisades, CO. Instead of shipping 8 million pounds of peaches this season, the grower/shipper will only have about 800,000 to 1 million pounds.
Overall, Colorado peach shipments are expected to be down 65 percent from normal.
Talbot reports some orchards had full or near-full crops through the Mesa County growing area, although Talbot was not among that fortunate group. Delta County is just to the south are has a better crop. Crops there were less advanced during that April freeze.