As Rice Fruit Company bids adieu to last year’s crop, they focus optimistically on the upcoming season.
Stone fruit, the shortest of their seasons, has just begun and will last until around Labor Day. The hot weather has been ideal for the superior flavor of their Eastern tree ripened peach.
“We are very much looking forward to our upcoming season,” said Brenda Briggs, VP of Sales and Marketing. The weather has been good so far for both apples and peaches, and in just a few short weeks the Premier Honeycrisp will make their debut mid-August. There have been some close calls with pocketed summer storms, but thankfully any damage has been localized and not very widespread- a much different story than the crop of 2016.
Rice has been focusing on strategically planning their new crop. “We’ll begin with our stonefruit, which is always fast and furious and then quickly transition into apples, including the seasonal varietal Ginger Gold, the first to market Premier Honeycrisp and shortly thereafter, Gala. We’re eager and ready to get to work,” Briggs said.
About Rice Fruit Company
Rice Fruit Company is the largest apple-packing facility in the Eastern half of the United States. Situated in the heart of Pennsylvania’s prime orchard country, the company receives, stores, and packs more than a million boxes of high-quality fresh Pennsylvania apples annually. The company has developed a high reputation for packing and shipping consistent, high-quality fresh apples. Its large capacity and unique facilities allow the company to respond quickly to orders and to comply with special customer requests. The close proximity of the company to the major markets of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York City allows the company to ship and deliver apples quickly with lower freight costs.
Source: Rice Fruit Company