Stone fruit season in full swing at Parlier orchard using innovative harvesting method

PARLIER, Calif. (KFSN) -- As summertime temperatures rise, peaches and nectarines are ripening rapidly successful the Central Valley, and harvest is underway astatine HMC Farms successful Parlier, wherever a unsocial attack to picking is drafting attention.

Instead of utilizing accepted ladders, workers astatine this orchard harvest effect from elevated platforms. For safety, they're besides tethered to the instrumentality arsenic they determination done the rows of trees.

HMC Farms grows 25 varieties of integrated chromatic effect crossed 100 acres. Company president Jon McClarty says astir of their effect is shipped crossed North America, including Canada.

"Our institution ships astir everything domestically, oregon to Canada, truthful it's North America trade," McClarty said.

The workplace often hosts planetary growers who travel to larn astir some effect accumulation and the platform-based harvesting method.

"It's ever an accidental to learn," McClarty said. "Our upwind isn't the aforesaid arsenic theirs, and our practices aren't either - but there's ever thing to summation by seeing however others bash things."

Some sections of the orchard are covered with netting, which McClarty says is chiefly for hail protection, though it besides provides shadiness and comfortableness for workers during the blistery summertime months.

This year's harvest is particularly sweet, though McClarty notes that yields look to beryllium lighter than usual. He besides shared a extremity for shoppers looking to prime the champion fruit.

"For nectarines, if it's afloat reddish connected 1 broadside but greenish oregon acheronian greenish connected the other, I'd debar it," helium said. "Look for a aureate inheritance instead."

With truthful galore varieties grown on-site, HMC Farms expects its chromatic effect play to proceed done October.

For quality updates, travel Dale Yurong connected Facebook and X.