“Eastern Propak and Jersey Fruit are prime examples of how peach growers can collaborate to better market their products,” Wengryn said. He noted that the facility’s advanced technology ensures high-quality standards and allows New Jersey peach producers to remain competitive in the global market.

New Jersey ranked fourth in the nation for peach production in 2023, with farmers harvesting 28.4 million pounds of peaches on 3,300 acres, generating $29 million in production value. The peach season in New Jersey runs through September, with around 80 orchards producing over 100 peach varieties.

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The field day is designed for growers, packers, consultants, industry professionals, university researchers, and staff.

Participants will rotate through stations in small groups, allowing for in-depth discussions on topics such as soil health, apple rootstocks, pear integrated pest management (IPM), codling moth management, powdery mildew, computer vision analysis of fruit quality, X-disease management and beneficial insects.

Topics

• Apple rootstocks
• Beneficial insects
• Codling moth lures and traps
• Computer Vision Analysis of Fruit Quality
• Pear IPM
• Powdery mildew
• Soil health
• X-disease management

To register for the event and for more information, visit treefruit.wsu.edu/events.

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Lawton Pearson, the fifth generation owner of Pearson Farm in the Fort Valley, Georgia, peach and pecan growing belt, loves walking inside any fruit orchard.

For Pearson, there is no better place he would like to be than in the middle of an orchard.

“To me, it’s awe-inspiring,” he said. “When you see a loaded orchard of fruit, and it’s not just loaded with fruit when you pick it; it’s all year. To see those trees and what God has given us, the complexity of it, and yet the simplicity of it — trees planted in rows, square formed, pruned by hand. They’re like little pieces of art, every one of them. You see order, not chaos. You get out in an orchard, any orchard, and you’re away from all of it. It gives you a special feeling to be in and live in an orchard. It’s something you don’t get out of a bean or corn field.”

While technology has altered peach shipping and handling, particularly in the packinghouse, the manual thinning, pruning and picking hasn’t changed much since the 19th century, Pearson said. 

As peaches are difficult to mechanize, Pearson believes they will be one of the last fruits to be harvested by machine.

Mechanization challenge

Peach harvesting can become more mechanized than is today, but Pearson believes picking peaches with machines will require much machine learning and will be unable to detect what the human eye can see because individual peaches vary and are in large numbers. 

Pearson believes the industry erred by breeding mostly red peaches, which makes it difficult for tech and humans to detect peach ripeness.

Drones’ aerial views aid scouting and aid tree counts and density, but don’t save much labor, he said. Though Pearson believes drone tech is the future of peach orchard tech, he doesn’t see how drone spraying capacities can adequately cover peach groves. 

“I’m not sure what the future is in (drone) spraying, but for scouting, it’s useful and gives me perspective,” Pearson said. “Tech that can map your orchard to try to give you yield projections, based on a drone flying up and down, is awesome, but peaches are so unpredictable. There’s a lot of data that is not actionable and is kind of worthless.”

Trying to shape peach mapping and projections into a science to more accurately predict harvest start dates, Pearson last year tracked factors including variety bloom and degree dates, temperatures, heat accumulation and post-bloom. He compared the information to his 20 years of manual data. 

With all the calculations and numbers, Pearson missed projecting the harvest date by five days. 

As peaches are highly variable in performance, growers do much by the “seat of their pants” in predicting and modeling, with a lot based on what happened the last year or year before, Pearson said.

Freeze factor

One out of 10 years, Georgia experiences a killing freeze, like one that happened in 2023. Luckily, 2024 did not produce any disastrous events. 

On average, a freeze strikes in the last two weeks of March, with the last frost typically hitting a week after the full bloom date, which is usually in late March or early April.  

“Throw a variable of a freeze or one night at 28º F into the mix of science and it kills some peaches,” Pearson said. “You can basically put an asterisk beside everything that happens after that freeze.”

Pearson has been using wind machines for a decade. The tech can provide an additional two to six degrees warmth, critical for saving fruit during cold evenings.

Pearson Farms grows 40 varieties of peaches, and the lineup often changes. The Prince-named varieties lead the pack, including the Ruby Prince, though there are some others that Pearson said perform well.

Breeding, crossing and variety selection are conducted at USDA’s Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory 15 miles from Pearson’s groves. “It’s constant renovation of genetic material, which makes them better, bigger and with more disease resistance,” Pearson said.

While improved herbicides have helped growers better control thracknose, brown rot and bacterial spot are major diseases threatening peaches. Omitting spraying can produce rots that can ruin crops. Bacterial spot is in abundance. O’Henry, one of the oldest varieties, is a great variety but is highly susceptible to bacterial spot. 

Disease, pests battles

In the off-season, oil sprays can control scale, considered a peach tree’s biggest nemesis, and researchers are working on mating disruption solutions.

Major pests include plum curculio, oriental fruit moth, stink bugs and borers. With plum curculio, worms burrow and aren’t susceptible to mating disruption. Mating disruption helps, however, with the peachtree borer, lesser peachtree borer and oriental fruit moths.

Only chemically controlled, stink bugs aren’t always a big issue. However, when conditions are right, they can become troublesome, Pearson said.

Growers can only discourage insects from entering orchards. During dry favorable conditions, insects enter seeking moisture. When there’s abundant moisture, insects are satisfied being somewhere else in the woods, Pearson said. 

— By Doug Ohlemeier, Assistant Editor 

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One of the biggest help to growers these days are mobile apps, which can help farmers achieve optimized irrigation, targeted fertilization and enhanced field monitoring. With the use of a phone, growers can uncover a host of information and save themselves time and money in the process.

AgProz

AgProz offers software and mobile solutions that provide accurate and responsive crop acreage data, reliable marketing resources and analytics that help growers of all segments.

“We’re more tied to vendors and companies who are trying to find growers,” said John Krum, founder and CEO of AgProz. 

Krum started the company with the idea of overlaying agriculture data on a map, similar to Zillow for real estate. 

“With AgProz, what you’re able to do is from a map see how many acres a grower has, what kind of props are farmed, as well as a name and contact info,” Krum said. “Once I was able to pull out this information, I was no longer going in blind about what growers I could get in front of and help. It empowers companies like John Deere and others. It keeps the right people in front of the right growers.” 

The core product is the app, and now the data is being leveraged more from a marketing lens as a workforce tool.

“You can track certain things inside the app and navigating the workflow before doing follow-ups,” Krum said.

Doktar

Regardless of the crop focus — tree fruits, nuts, vegetables — Netherlands-based Doktar’s mobile app solutions help farmers make decisions on real-time data for precision farming and smart ag.

IoTrack is a mobile application that enables the management of the company’s Filiz Agricultural Sensor Station and PestTrap Digital Pest Tracking Station from a single platform. 

“Users can track their data flow and receive instant notifications from IoT-enabled devices, allowing them to make informed decisions and enhance efficiency,” said Tanzer Bilgen, CEO for Doktar.

Meanwhile, PestTrap is an IoT pest-tracking station that utilizes machine learning to accurately identify and count pests in real-time. It is suitable for use in fields, orchards, greenhouses, warehouses and forests. 

“With sticky paper and an integrated camera, PestTrap captures daily images and accurately identifies pest types,” Bilgen said. “Integrated with the IoTrack mobile application, PestTrap enables effortless remote tracking and sends notifications when pest levels reach a risk threshold.”

Users of PestTrap receive high-resolution images with its 5MP camera and can adjust the image frequency and timing options for more precise monitoring. 

“They can view pest species distribution and 48-hour spraying suitability assessments to take timely actions that reduce the economic impact of pests and optimize yields,” Bilgen said. “PestTrap’s machine learning algorithm recognizes region-specific pests, tracks their developmental cycle and learns to identify new pests accurately within two weeks.”

Both IoTrack and Orbit, an app that helps farmers monitor the health and development of their crops and identify underdeveloped, water-stressed or over-irrigated areas, enable farmers to view all data on their homepage and spot problems immediately.

“Overall, IoTrack helps implement practices for precision agriculture by instantly controlling irrigation problems, disease risks, microclimate weather conditions, calculating advanced agricultural metrics, and potential pest infestations,” Bilgen said. The app also helps track the timing of irrigation, spraying, and phenological stage changes in the field by recording them on time.

“Health, inspection and water stress maps are crucial,” Bilgen said. “With Orbit, you can monitor the weather hourly with the live precipitation and storm tracking feature and take timely precautions with frost risk and fungal disease risk notifications.”

Barn Owl Technologies

Barn Owl Technologies builds physical hardware that acts as an automatic scouting tool that helps growers with insect monitoring and provides early timing for growers to make early decisions for insect pest management.

“It will lead to a reduction on bug sprays and increase production,” said Richard Chen, Barn Owl Technologies’ president. “We are working with apple growers in Massachusetts and target harmful pests such as oriental fruit moth, codling moth, Obliquebanded leafroller, plum curculio, apple maggot and brown marmorated stink bug.”

The scouting can be implemented via a mobile app and provides first arrival dates (biofix) and weekly insect counting.

“Scouting insects is usually a weekly job for growers, but if they mess up the first arrival date, they spray all season long,” Chen said. “Finding first arrival date for growers requires them to scout every day, which is not feasible.” 

The company is also currently building an automatic trapping system for Colorado potato beetles and focusing its efforts on ground and crawling insects. 

One of the vegetable growers told Chen production by can be increased 25%-50% when early arrival dates for potato beetles are discovered, he said. 

Irrigation control

Other popular mobile apps include FieldNET Mobile, Agrobase and Pospera.

FieldNET Mobile allows growers to monitor and control irrigation systems from a mobile device, improving water efficiency and crop health. 

Agrobase, a crop protection database, provides comprehensive pest and disease identification, weed identification, plus agricultural news and trends.

Prospera offers pivot irrigation monitoring from an app, helping in irrigation planning and control.

Optical sorting equipment

Optical sorters are another area experiencing much innovation, with a big trend being the integration of AI, offering results akin to human inspection but at a significantly faster pace.

“This advancement involves the use of cameras with quicker processors to reduce collateral loss resulting from misdetection,” said Oscar Sandoval, California senior regional account manager at AMVT. “In response to this trend, our company has embraced AI by incorporating this feature into most of our sorter offerings, catering not only to bulk materials but also packaged goods. This addition aids in detecting issues such as improperly sealed bags or loosely capped jars, enhancing the sorting process for fruit/nut crop growers.”

These solutions ensure improved quality and cleanliness of the final product for consumers, minimizing the loss of good products in the reject pile. Ultimately, they enable growers to preserve a higher quantity of top-quality products.

“Compared to previous generations, the newer optical sorting equipment goes beyond traditional RGB technology, which relies on color differentiation,” Sandoval said. “The latest models analyze factors like size, color, texture and length to achieve precise separation, mirroring the discernment of the human eye utilizing AI.”

Another company taking advantage of AI is Taranis, which offers an advanced Open-Source Intelligence tool that utilizes AI and aerial imaging to monitor crops at higher resolutions than were done historically. This helps better detect pest issues, diseases and nutrient deficiencies early, enabling timely interventions.   

As agriculture continues to evolve with technological advancements including mobile apps, IoT devices, and AI-driven solutions, the future of farming is not just about innovation, it’s about precision, efficiency and sustainability for growers worldwide.

By Keith Loria

A graduate of the University of Miami, Keith Loria is an award-winning journalist who has been writing for almost 20 years. View his recent writing at keithloria.contently.com

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Scheduled for Oct. 22-24 in Woodland, California, 11 miles from the Sacramento International Airport, FIRA USA is set to provide growers and other industry personnel the opportunity to view new agricultural technology in action in the global ag robotics sector.

The core focus of the conference is to afford growers the opportunity to network, exchange feedback and to learn more about existing solutions through grower roundtables on specific crops sponsored by commodity boards, said Gwendoline Legrand, co-director for show sponsor FIRA and GOFAR (Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics).

“The end-users are the key. You can not develop disruptive solutions without having them in the loop,” Legrand said. “They need to share their vision, they need to touch, to test, to say ‘No, I want this that way’ and finally, get the exact systems that work for them. The growers’ needs is where everything started for FIRA. We are not showcasing and presenting robots and autonomous solutions as an end by themselves. Those machines need to represent a proper solution to specific needs, as diverse as the farmers are. The manufacturers understand that, and are very often building the solutions together with the growers, directly operating in the fields.”

Free grower admission

This year growers will receive free admission, a longtime World FIRA Europe policy that allows even more industry stakeholders and small to large-scale growers to leave the event with more autonomous and robotics technology information and vision, Legrand said.

To address the tree fruit industry’s automation needs, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and the California Almond Board are signed up as new sponsors.

Both organizations have long been part of FIRA USA support, promoting the event to their communities and visiting the show. This year, however, will be the first year the grower organizations decided to sponsor the event, to highlight the problems faced by tree fruit and nut growers, and to help them discover stand-alone solutions already on the market, Legrand said.

The sponsorships also prompt interest from other commodity boards and research institutes and motivate them to organize specific programs for their growers, she said.

As previous FIRAs explored many topics relating to ag robotics, organizers want this year’s education component to be as relevant as possible for growers, and include sessions designed to discuss issues growers are facing and existing autonomous solutions for individual crops.

Commodity group and research involvement are critical. Panelists are set to share stories on how the industry is “automation-ready” and provide examples of vendors working in the space with commodity groups and universities.

Tech solutions

The educational portion includes crop-specific themed roundtables covering topics including tree fruit automation and reducing spray drift and improving spray coverage in the almond and tree nuts industry. To address the tree fruit industry’s tech needs, sessions will include strategies, failures, plans and expectations and be focused on priority areas and timelines to affect crop load management and harvest labor, Legrand said.

Real-life demos will occur in the fields, displaying existing autonomous solutions from a variety of agtech firms. FIRA plans to include suppliers of autonomous irrigation solutions, a big leap forward for this year’s edition, she said.

To allow growers to lace their boots and trek through fields to see automation in action, a new event is being offered — a pre-show bus tour, Oct. 17- 21. The Cal Ag Robotics Discovery Tour is scheduled to show growers and other industry participants the latest in agricultural technology by visiting a wide range of farms and crops using tech across the Sacramento, Central and Salinas valleys.

Through viewing the operations’ daily challenges and the solutions they use, the California Ag Robotics Discovery tour will allow participants to immerse themselves in and deepen their market understanding of tech in California’s leading and most powerful growers, Legrand said. The five-day tour will bring a broad vision into fruit and nut trees, vineyards and berries, vegetables, including tomatoes and leafy greens, and supply a network of growers and participants at the stops, she said.

“This is what is impressive with many ag robots: They are versatile, they can adapt,” Legrand said. “This is also what we do with FIRA, through traveling across California to meet different growers, and present what could be their next-gen machines.”

The show will also tackle commodity commission funding, industry collaboration and automation readiness, with sessions showing participants the need for funding and investment to move products across the finish line, Legrand said.

France-based GOFAR is a nonprofit organization that promotes and develops the agricultural robotics sector at international level.

For more information, visit fira-usa.com.

—  By Doug Ohlemeier, Assistant Editor

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Michigan officials have confirmed the state’s second detection of the invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF)  in Monroe County.

SLF is a destructive pest that feeds on a wide variety of crops and plants, including cucumbers, basil, grapes, tree fruit including apples, cherries and peaches, as well as almond and walnut trees.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced that a small population of juvenile spotted lanternflies was discovered in Lambertville, Michigan, with the finding confirmed by USDA.

“The infestation was detected through monitoring traps deployed by Michigan State University (MSU), as part of collaborative survey initiatives with MSU, MDARD, and the USDA,” Steve Carlson, MDARD’s pesticide and plant pest management division director, said in a news release. “This work is critical in our efforts to identify and limit the spread of spotted lanternfly in Michigan.”

Native to eastern Asia, the spotted lanternfly first appeared in the U.S. in 2014 in southeastern Pennsylvania. It has since spread to 17 eastern and midwestern states. The insect is known to feed on a wide range of plants.

MDARD is collaborating with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, USDA, and Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas to assess the scope of the infestation and determine an appropriate response.

Residents are urged to help prevent the spread of spotted lanternfly by inspecting vehicles, crushing nymphs and adult insects, and reporting sightings online to Eyes in the Field. For more information, visit here.

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In the high desert an hour northeast of Los Angeles, Tenerelli Orchards grows peaches, cherries and other fruit that has earned a loyal customer base, including celebrities. The Littlerock, California, farm and u-pick is run by second and third generation family members. 

In 1932, Peter Tenerelli immigrated to Los Angeles from Italy. After retiring in 1975 from his butcher business, Tenerelli planted 10 acres of peaches. Then in 1981, frustrated by brokers and wholesalers not willing to pay the fruit’s true value, Tenerelli and his youngest son, John, began selling to Southern California farmers markets. 

The switch made sorting and packing fruit in wholesale cartons unnecessary. John Tenerelli would transport the fruit in plastic field totes directly to the farmers markets, fetching $5-$10 a box instead of the 75 cents marketed wholesale. 

Tenerelli Orchards has long grown peaches, nectarines and apricots. Peaches can repel rain, but growing nectarines is more challenging. Heavy summer rains and thunderstorms can destroy nectarines, marking the fruit so badly they are unmarketable. Peaches, however, aren’t as severely scarred. 

Targeted harvests 

John Tenerelli figured a way to grow and harvest fresh peach and nectarine varieties from July through October. Because Central Valley growers produce more volume than his region, Tenerelli strategically plants his crops. 

“I have to be careful with what I grow,” he said. “I have to know what I can grow and what I can move.” 

Instead of planting a limited number of varieties, Tenerelli Orchards diversified by planting 25 peach and nectarines varieties on one acre each. During the season, harvesting is constant. The staggered varieties ripen at particular times and are picked, for example, four days apart in three cycles, which provides a constant flow of fruit. 

Tenerelli concedes such a system could be difficult for most growers. 

“For quality, we are growing fruit a little riper than everyone else, but the main thing is keeping it fresh,” he said 

Through the years, Tenerelli learned how to correctly prune peach trees. Thinning is one of the biggest costs of growing fresh-market Firestone peaches. Correct fertilizer applications that vary by variety and allow the trees to produce the proper amount of fruit, which could be 200 to 400 pieces, ensure proper fruit counts. 

For cherries, Tenerelli learned how proper pruning can control harvesting too many or too few fruit. He learned from earlier mistakes and discovered that more pruning can lead to higher fruit counts. 

Once properly trained, cherry trees grow well and don’t require much trimming, unlike apricots and peaches, which can be pruned as a grower wishes, Tenerelli said. The tedious work of picking is expensive and constitutes the main cost of cherries, he said. 

Carefully hand laying the fruit in totes also ensures ripe fruit is being picked. 

“We know when to pick peaches, when they’re ripe and don’t throw them in the picking tote, we lay them in there nicely,” Tenerelli said. 

Initially planted as a bird decoy for the cherries by Tenerelli’s father in the late 1990s, Persian mulberries have joined the farm’s harvest schedule. 

A downside is harvest difficulty. Workers must climb ladders, picking and turning the fruit so the berries aren’t crushed. The expensive harvest is rewarded by high prices paid by his upscale customers, wealthy individuals who reserve the fruit two weeks in advance. Tenerelli’s mulberries market for $15 for 6.5 ounce clamshells. 

Because of the harvesting challenge, crews pick 50% to 75% of the mulberries, harvesting per order. Workers pick the easier to reach low- hanging fruit. To keep prices high and harvest costs lower, berries are left on the tree. 

To reduce his seven-day-a-week workload from May through October harvest, Tenerelli stopped growing apples in 2020. 

Farmers markets pitfalls 

Because popular farmers markets don’t accept new growers, Tenerelli doesn’t recommend growers change their business models to selling exclusively at farmers markets, and instead use them as a supplemental outlet to their own farm stand sales. 

“You can’t do it with just three to four farmers markets,” he said. 

Being close to a city helps, Tenerelli said. Because of small margins, making the change can be tough, he said. Tenerelli Orchards sells in more than a dozen Southern California farmers markets. 

The region’s lack of humidity produces less fungus and mold. Brown rot, a big peach threat, isn’t as big a concern, Tenerelli said. Pests are bigger threats in the San Joaquin Valley, with peach twig borer easily controlled in his region, Tenerelli said. 

Colder high desert temperatures can destroy apricots. In the last two decades, however, fewer frosts have favored apricot blossoms, which appear earlier than peaches. Because trees prefer cooler nights and warm, dry days, high desert growing helps retain fruit on the trees longer. The fruit matures slightly better, producing better flavors than some other regions, Tenerelli said. 

After learning a lot about pests through University of California Cooperative Extension courses, Tenerelli has been able to grow fruit without pest control or farm advisors. 

For years, Tenerelli has deployed mating disruption. To monitor pests, pheromone traps lure pests including the harmful peach twig borers. 

U-pick insights 

In 2020, Tenerelli planted his first cherry u-pick orchard, opening it to customers in 2023. Apricots are also a u-pick option. Because of incorrect pruning and overcropping, the cherry trees took nine years to bear fruit and then they bore too much fruit, which almost killed the trees. 

Tenerelli caters to an above-average clientele, which includes Hollywood actors, via email and a website. Tenerelli characterizes u-pick as a fun experience and said he enjoys chatting with the customers. 

“The people who come out, they’re in such good moods,” he said. “It’s a great clientele to be around.” 

Despite a previous long-term drought, Tenerelli and area growers received adequate groundwater. The 2023 saturation event helped replenish soil and the aquifer. 

Freely sourced from Los Angeles businesses seeking disposal, mulch is placed under trees. On extremely hot days, mulch provides trees moisture, helping Tenerelli save 20% on water costs. A lack of mulch application machinery, however, brings costs as the mulch must be manually shoveled from trailers. 

Tenerelli is grateful for his family members’ help, including his wife Tracie. Daughter Natalie and her partner Dan Cox expanded sales through online sales and delivery. Before joining his dad, John Tenerelli was in the liquor sales business and worked in Hollywood studioproduction. 

He took over operations in 2002 after his father died, and said he enjoys experimenting with new varieties and seeing how they produce. 

“I love the outdoors and not being inside,” he said. “With the u-pick, it’s a lot of fun. People are so happy to be around farmers, which is important. I love going to work.” 

— By Doug Ohlemeier, Assistant Editor

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The Associated International Group of Nurseries (AIGN), now 12 members strong, gathered in France the last week of May for their 2024 annual general meeting.

Based in Yakima, Washington, the organization represents nurseries that propagate tree fruit for conventional and organic production.

The meeting’s host company, Star Fruits, arranged several pre-meeting activities and events in Paris, prior to the group commencing the week-long agenda in the city of Avignon.

This year’s theme, “Moving ahead during difficult times,” was used as a catalyst for discussion about how the 36-year-old company can continue to adapt and evolve during these uncertain times, according to a news release.

“The consequences of climate change on fruit growing are just beginning to unfold,” Gavin Porter, AIGN’s CEO, said in the release. “AIGN recognizes the urgency to help orchardists address these challenges by seeking out and supporting the development of new rootstocks and fruit varieties with greater tolerance to warmer growing areas, and being prepared to commercialize them when the tide of the economic downturn changes.”

The assembly featured an educational segment for the directors with a day devoted to a site visit to SICASOV, where AIGN’s members learned about their work with Global Gap, and how they ensure fruits are legal from an IP perspective.

This was followed by a presentation from representatives of Naktuinbouw, the high health facility in the Netherlands and their affiliated organizations.

One of AIGN’s strengths is their global member-network, which allows the company to distribute plant materials on a broad scale for testing and evaluation prior to commercial release. Before distribution of a cultivar can take place, however, all materials are required to undergo evaluation by a Clean Plant Center, where the plants must be certified as disease and pathogen free, and affirmed as meeting the phytosanitary requirements of the destination country, according to the release.

In recent years, AIGN has come to rely on Naktuinbouw to clean and certify plant materials due to their efficiency and exceptional communication practices. Therefore, it was of great interest to the members to gain a better understanding of Naktuinbouw’s operations, according to the release.

The meeting closed with plans underway to meet in spring of 2025 in Santiago, Chile. AIGN member Viveros Requinoa of LTDA will host the event.

AIGN internationally has developed and introduced new rootstocks and varieties of deciduous trees for more than 35 years. The organization specializes in global management of intellectual property, utilizing their relationships with the leading plant breeders to secure propagation rights for new varieties, extensively testing, evaluating and marketing new products that benefit nursery owners and stakeholders.

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CarbonCents is a pioneering technology firm specializing in carbon footprint tracking and reduction solutions.

The collaboration for the Ridge Spring, South Carolina-based grower-shipper marks a significant milestone in Titan Farms’ commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability, according to a news release.

The decision to join forces with CarbonCents stems from Titan Farms’ dedication to understanding and mitigating its carbon footprint.

“We chose to partner with CarbonCents to help us set baseline emissions standards,” Chalmers Carr, Titan’s CEO and president, said in the release. “Without an understanding of where we stand today, we cannot set reduction targets in a realistic and informed manner.”

Titan grows peaches, bell peppers, broccoli, eggplant and strawberries.

CarbonCents will play a pivotal role in implementing their cutting-edge solutions at Titan. The process involves consolidating all energy consumption data as well as collecting data on other emission-related sources, and utilizing CarbonCents’ proprietary software, “Carbon BI,” to analyze consumption patterns across fields, facilities, and supply chains. This comprehensive approach will enable Titan to identify areas for improvement and implement targeted strategies to reduce emissions effectively, according to the release.

CarbonCents’ involvement ensures compliance with environmental standards and facilitates transparency in reporting carbon footprint to external parties.

“CarbonCents will not only compile our data but also verify its accuracy and audit for incongruences,” Carr said in the release. “Their expertise will ensure that all data shared with external parties is accurate and understandable.”

Looking ahead, Titan Farms aims to engage stakeholders, customers, and communities in its CO2 footprint reduction efforts. By leading the charge in environmental sustainability, Titan hopes to inspire others in the industry to join their journey towards emissions reduction, according to the release.

“Our long-term strategic vision is centered on becoming a leader in environmental stewardship within the agricultural sector,” Carr said in the release. “Through rigorous data collection, strategic goal setting, and collaborative efforts, we are committed to achieving overall emissions reduction throughout our supply chains.”

As Titan Farms enters the data collection phase with CarbonCents, the company remains steadfast in its pursuit of carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions. By leveraging innovative technology and fostering industry-wide collaboration, Titan Farms is poised to make a significant impact on environmental sustainability in agriculture, according to the release.

Founded in 1999 by Chalmers and Lori Anne Carr, Titan Farms is a grower, packer, shipper and processor of fresh peaches and vegetables. Titan is the largest peach grower on the East Coast, with more than 6,200 acres of peaches, 600 acres of bell peppers, 1,000 acres of broccoli and 36 acres of eggplant.

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The event, hosted by Wightman Farms’ Adam Costello, is aimed at all commercial tree fruit growers. It will feature a farm tour, wagon rides, and demonstrations on various topics such as tall spindle apple culture, summer pruning of apple trees, and apple crop load management. Additionally, peach and cherry culture will be covered.

Jon Clements, an extension educator from the University of Massachusetts and an expert in the tall spindle apple system, will be the special guest speaker. He will demonstrate the use of Outfield drones and Vivid Machines for apple crop load management and yield mapping.

Pre-registration is required by Monday, June 24, with a fee of $20, which includes lunch. Participants can pre-register and pay at njshs.org. For more information, contact Win Cowgill at 908-489-1476 or visit here.

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