A juicy, tasty, fresh peach captures the essence of summer, and does it in a vibrant, fuzzy package. Unfortunately, U.S. consumers don’t always get that experience from their fruit. Instead, they sometimes bite into dry, mushy, mealy, discolored peaches, and it’s taking a toll on sales, said Ioannis Minas, assistant professor of pomology at Colorado State University.

In a talk at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in December, Minas pointed to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics showing that consumption of fresh peaches declined by more than half in the past 25 years, dropping from nearly 7 pounds in 1980 to less than 3 in 2015. Minas and his colleagues hope to counter that trend by honing in on the characteristics of a great peach and using newer, nondestructive tools to identify the preharvest practices that foster those qualities. - Read more of this Good Fruit Grower article.