TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher will celebrate National Peach Month with visits on Thursday and Friday. Secretary Fisher, along with state and local officials, will visit Melick’s Orchard in Hunterdon County on Thursday and then Sunny Valley International in Gloucester County on Friday. Both visits will take place at 10 a.m.
The USDA has projected New Jersey to be No. 3 in the U.S. in peach production for 2018 with a predicted harvest of 64 million pounds. That would be more than 7 million pounds over what were harvested in 2017.
The visit to Melick’s Orchards in Califon will feature a look at the pick-your-own operation there along with its farm stand set up. Melick’s has more than 5,000 peach trees and grows more than 30 varieties of both yellow and white peaches. The orchard has fresh peaches for picking through September at its Califon location.
Sunny Valley International in Glassboro has been a supplier of fresh fruits and vegetables to the North American market since 1986. The company recently added onto its facility to make it one of the largest distributors in New Jersey. With peaches in season, Sunny Valley is currently distributing heavy volume in yellow and white peaches, which will be available through mid-September.
Go to FindJerseyFresh.com and search where Jersey Fresh peaches are available.
— New Jersey Department of Agriculture