Production of California’s stone fruit is slow to start due to the unseasonable California weather.

“Any commodity buyer knows that it’s been a weather-filled last few weeks. It’s not just the rain itself but the overall lower temperatures have slowed down the volume of stone fruit right out of the gate,” says Jon McClarty of HMC Farms in Kingsburg, Ca., who adds that the stone fruit is currently coming mostly out of the Central California region.

McClarty adds that plums are the one stone fruit that hasn’t started in full production yet and is only seeing limited supplies right now. “But peaches and nectarines are seeing a bit of a slowdown because of the weather. Moisture on the fruit is never a positive thing,” he says.

As it stands, overall volume currently is lower than this time last year. “But going forward, it looks to be a pretty normal crop of stone fruit,” McClarty says.- Read more of this article.