I know there is no one on here close enough to consider this, and I’m not even sure why I wanted to post this other than I’m curious about it and find it interesting.
There is a peach orchard less than 3 miles from my house. It originally had 300 trees but currently has 241 peach trees that are 7 years old. They are mostly a peach called Canadian Harmony. They produce wonderful, very large peaches.
Anyway, for whatever reason, the owner of the orchard says he no longer has the time or desire to manage the orchard, so he has just posted an ad in a local farm store offering the entire orchard for rent this season for $1,000. The renter would have to do all the spraying and care and picking and so on, but would get the entire crop. I have absolutely no idea on earth how much yeild would be on 241 peach trees, but $1,000 seems pretty darn cheap. Then again, it would require a lot of chemicals and labor and equipment, so maybe its not a good deal.
I am willing to bet no one around here will accept the offer because no one around here knows the first thing about growing peaches. This is the only orchard in 50 miles that I know of, and I’ve never met anyone else with any fruit tree knowledge at all. So I bet the orchard will just go to waste. What a shame!
I’d say no. They used to sell them all to Kroger (a grocery chain) but in recent years they have just sold them at a road-side stand. I know for certain that they have always sold out at the stand as fast as the workers could pick them each day, and sold the whole years crop in less than 2 weeks. I’d say the owner would let a renter use his stand and location.
I think a person could wait until after frost danger to make the deal, but I also know from experience that between this orchard and the one he had before (which got too old to be productive) that orchard loses its entire fruit crop to frost damage approximately 1 out of every 3 years- maybe more. I guess that is exactly why there aren’t any more orchards in this area.
Its very true that him having only one variety results in a short window! I’ve always thought about that…they get a HUGE volume of peaches that all come in at almost exactly the same time. From the day they first open the roadside stand until they close it is little more than ONE WEEK. I’ve always wondered why he didn’t try to spread out the harvest. He has also never done a pick-your-own, which I would have thought would be profitable.
Oh well…like I said, I have no idea if its a good idea or not and I certainly wouldn’t consider it even if it were. Its just interesting. I would assume that he is pricing it SOMEWHERE in the neighborhood of what he would make if he just managed it himself. But even if he is willing to rent it for 1/2 of what he make picking and selling them himself, that would mean he only makes $2,000 per year. SURELY he doesn’t spray, prune, pick, and care for those trees all year long just to make $2,000 per year!!! If so, why would anyone get in the peach business?
I’ve got 2 Indian Free that I planted last year…I sure hope they are 1/2 as good as everyone here seems to think they are. Maybe I can give him some scion in the future!
It’s also extremely puzzling to me why he would plant one variety. The only reason I can think of to plant one variety which ripens at the same time, would be if he were selling them to a processor. However, Canadian Harmony is not a processing peach.
Even grocery stores like to have an even steady supply of produce.
I wouldn’t rent the orchard for $1000 if they were all fresh market peaches and ripened at the same time.
I don’t he was a peach expert by any stretch of the imagination- which may be why it never worked for him. I actually asked him why he didn’t grow several varieties and spread it out. His explanation was 2 fold. One, he had a contract with Kroger when he planted the new orchard whereby they would buy all he had at once. Secondly, he said that he wanted to get done with peaches so he could concentrate on his other crops the rest of the time. He has beef cattle, tobacco, corn, wheat, and so on- all in pretty big quantities. But my guess is he just never did really well with peaches. So who knows what the real story is…obviously he wasn’t very successful or he wouldn’t be letting someone else handle them (especially for $1,000!)
I wouldn’t do it on a 50/50 basis even if I thought it would bring in $20k! knowing how much time and work it is to take care of my 75 trees, I can’t even begin to imagine what it would take to prune, spray, pick, and care for 250 trees! wow. But I do hate to see him just cut them down, and heard that is what he is probably going to do. what a shame.
I would make him an offer for the orchard and topwork them after i heavily inspected them for disease and pests. With peaches and @Olpea advice i would think you would get a staggered crop a year or two later.
If I was going to have a tiny 250 tree orchard, I think the 1 variety thing could be a good idea. If you are going to hire out the picking, I would think it would be easier to get a few pickers for a short time rather than trying to find someone willing to hang around and pick 50 trees every few weeks. A picker couldn’t make enough to make it worth their time, much less effort.
On the flip side, a family (even with jobs) could probably handle that load by themselves if you had say 5 or 6 different ripening windows. I’d guess from a perspective of freezes and disease, multiple varieties would also be better. Lots of work.
If we were neighbors city I’d go in on it with you provided he was willing to deal a bit. With a bit of luck, we could get some good peaches out of there…in that, I’m certain. I doubt I could ever make nearly as much per hour once is all said and done as what I make at work. I truly despise my job anymore though…I’d give anything to be able to love what I do for a living. My dream since I was a little kid around 8 or 9 was to own an orchard. Back then though I thought it was all gravy and you’d just swim in money. I know better these days. I know a lot better.
Maybe get some good apples going for a little spending money in the fall.
Just to be clear, and based on several of the posts in this thread I haven’t been…I just posted this because it was interesting to me and I wondered if it were a good deal, but in no way whatsoever am I interested in taking on the orchard myself, no matter what deal he’d make me. Not only do I not have the experience, but I don’t have the equipment either. And I certainly don’t have the time! As I’ve said- I really cannot properly handle my 75 trees, and they are almost all just 2-4 years old so very small. I couldn’t dream of taking on more.
But Jeff, your statement about hating your job is very depressing! I’ve had jobs I hated and it really just made me whole life hell. ANd my father worked for 30 years at a job that he dreaded from the time he got up until he went to bed knowing he’d have to do it all over again the next day. I just can’t imagine that. I’m very lucky because I like my job…I hope you either retire soon or change jobs or something…hating 8-10 hours of every day is just an awful way to live, as you know.
But I sure get what you are saying about how you’ve always wanted to own an orchard, and with your knowledge and experience there is no reason you can’t at least develop a small one. Meanwhile, if you want to move to Tennessee, I can hook you up with a nice little peach orchard! haha
Dread…yep, that about sums it up. It is a terrible way to live, but it is at least living, and that’s all I do it for. It’s not horrific or anything, and I’m pretty good at it, but I have zero passion for it. I only do it for my family, especially my kids. College is crazy money these days, so unfortunately, at my age it appears my fate is sealed. I think my story is actually pretty typical.
If only I’d have listened to the guidance counselors when I was in school…but I knew everything.
You guys both remind me that I’m really lucky to have a job I enjoy. You also make a lot of good sense and I admire your dedication. My high school experience did work out…when I was in high school my government class paired each student up with a local government worker, and I got paired with the City Manager. I will never forget how good he was to me and by the time it was over I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life. So I got undergrad and grad degrees in the field and worked for 7 cities and have been city manager for the last 16 years. Of course its not always fun and it requires a thick skin and good diplomacy at times, but I really do like my work overall. I wish you guys were just as lucky, but like you said, more people are probably like you than like me. I wish we could all grow fruit for a living (and actually make big money doing it)!
In my area, 3 bushels a tree would be the expected yield. That’s about 36000 pounds of peaches to sell in a very short time - Assuming things work as expected. Of course things never go according to plan!
If the orchard contained multiple variety ripening over time, it would be a great deal for someone.
That is exactly the kind of information/estimate I was looking for, Rick. Can you (or someone else) please play those numbers out a little further. IE, how much per bushel or per pound do roadside stands probably sell peaches for (I know there are countless variables including location, time of year, competition, peach size/quality, etc but just a wild estimate would help). Obviously what I’m trying to get at is the approximate (again, understanding these are just wild estimates) value of the crop. Thanks.
UPDATE: I know for 100% certain that they sell a 1 peck box for $14 at their stand and sell them as fast as they can pack them up. To be fair, though, their 1 peck boxes are always heaping so high you can’t move them without a peach or two falling off. . I have no idea how many pounds or bushels a peck is, but if you can convert $14 per peck to the 36000 pound estimate you just listed, I’d like to hear what value that puts on their whole crop. Also, out of curiousity, is $14 per HEAPING peck box high or low for other posters areas? Thanks
