California Dried Plum Crop Expected To Double

The 2017 California dried plum (prune) crop is forecast at 105,000 tons, up 106% from the 51,000 tons reported to the California Dried Plum Board as produced in 2016. The French prune variety accounts for virtually all dried plum acreage grown in California.

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This year is not expected to produce a bumper crop, it’s more a case of a return to normal, says University of California Cooperative Extension Orchard Systems Farm Advisor Franz Niederholzer.

“The 2016 crop was a disaster,” Niederholzer says. “A cold, wet, and windy bloom that year produced very, very low yields – 20% to 40% of normal for many growers.

In fact, acreage is actually down slightly this year. Total 2017 bearing acreage is estimated at 44,000, 2% below the previous year.

One grower, John Amarel of Reason Farms in Yuba City, says the 2016 crop was their worst ever. The 2017 crop is just about right.

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“This year we have an average crop on the older trees and the younger trees seem to have a slightly better than average crop,” Amarel says. “We did not have too heavy of a crop where we needed to shaker-thin to maintain size.”

And while the heavy rains this past winter in California were certainly a blessing, Amarel says they are having a real problem from bacterial canker killing 2- to 4-year-old trees. The heavy rains may have exacerbated the problem, he says.

The production forecast is based on a survey of dried plum growers conducted through May 31 by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Pacific Regional Office. The survey uses a random sampling design based on total dried plum acreage for each operator.

The sample is designed to provide a state estimate of production for all growers. Responses were received from 217 growers.

 

 

 

 

 

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