โThis article was authored exclusively for Eat Like No One Else by Pearson Farm, a fifth-generation family farm producing the best Georgia peaches that are shipped directly from our orchard to your front door."
One of the biggest changes to the peach industry over the last few years resolves around a singular issue: labor. Labor is a large driving force in the cost to manage a peach farm. While many peach farmers do hire many immigrant workers, a local labor force is necessary.
Many farmers work with a government program (H2A Worker Program) to have legal workers. This labor force typically offers a viable option for farmers to stay fiscally minded. A description of the Worker Program from the Department of Laborโs website:
โThe work to be performed must be โof a temporary (or seasonal) nature,โ meaning employment that is performed at certain seasons of the year, usually in relation to the production and/or harvesting of a crop, or for a limited time period of less than one year when an employer can show that the need for the foreign workers(s) is truly temporary.โ
There is also an increasingly difficult task that must be tackled by peach famers: food safety. The most dedicated farmers work diligently to ensure that peaches are safe for the consumer. Farmers are also required to be able to trace peach shipments, in the rare case that something should be found amiss in a batch of peaches produced.
Finally, there are numerous governmental issues that affect how peach farmers do things on their farms. While many are not officially โorganic farmsโ, most try to limit sprays of pesticides and employ an Integrated Pest Management system.
Nell Jean
Peaches are always going to have to have some kind of pest management as long as housewives demand that perfect, wormless peach and fungi continue in the orchard.
My Mama always just carefully cut around the wormy part of our homegrown peaches, saying, "He's a clean little worm, never been anywhere but in this peach."