Akatsuki, the main peach variety grown in Fukushima Prefecture, may one day be past its best-before date by the Bon holidays in mid-August when many people travel to the prefecture, as its harvesting season is getting earlier year by year.
This year, the peak harvest season for Akatsuki came about a week or 10 days earlier than the average year.
JA Fukushima Mirai, an agricultural cooperative based in the city of Fukushima, attributes this year’s early harvest to good weather in early spring and the scorching heat in the summer.
Growers welcome the high yield which is forecast to top the record high posted last year, but with climate change likely to affect the crop next year and beyond, consumers worry that the peaches will mature faster every year and will not make it to store shelves during the Bon holidays in the future.
Peach growers are eagerly awaiting the development of new heat-tolerant varieties.
Akatsuki was originally developed in Fukushima and was registered as a variety in 1979. It occupies half of the total peach production in the prefecture.
It enjoys nationwide popularity and is known as a variety presented to the imperial family.
Its harvesting period is short, lasting only about two weeks from late July.
During the 1970s through the early 1990s, 10% to 20% of the harvested peaches were still available during the Bon holidays, but in recent years shipments end in early August, reflecting rising temperatures.
This year, temperatures were relatively high in March and April when peach trees bloom, moving the harvest period forward by roughly a week compared with an average year.
On Aug. 3, many people from within and outside the prefecture visited Dateka Vegefuru, a farmers market in the town of Koori, Fukushima Prefecture.
Shoko Nishimura, 62, a part-time worker from Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, who comes to the town every year to buy peaches, purchased them for herself and as a gift.
“I usually come at the end of July, but this year I couldn’t make it and ended up coming in August,” Nishimura said. “I’m glad Akatsuki was still available.”
Masahiro Minami, 47, a peach farmer in Koori, said this year’s peaches “overall have high sugar content and are perfect in quality.”
However, he said around 30% of his peaches couldn’t be shipped as the intense heat made the fruit ripen too much inside before the surface color changed sufficiently.
“The shipment timing is getting earlier year by year,” Minami said, expressing concerns. “Since the period when we start growing peaches doesn’t change, we have less time to cultivate them.”
Kazuo Azuma, 76, chairman of Aduma Kajuen, a fruit farm in Iizaka, Fukushima Prefecture, enjoyed a good harvest of peaches.
A variety of fruits are grown at the farm, starting with cherries, followed by peaches, grapes and apples.
Peaches are particularly delicate and need to be taken care of quickly after the trees bear fruit.
Harvesting is conducted by seven workers from early morning, and their work including shipping lasts until late afternoon.
The farm saw the number of customers who visit the place as part of bus tours plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but purchase orders have been recovering as it focused on promoting online shopping.
“All the fruit farms suffered from the impact of the (Great East Japan Earthquake) disaster and COVID,” Azuma said. “Now is the time to keep moving forward.”
Seiichi Kazumata, 67, head of JA Fukushima Mirai which covers the prefecture’s northern regions, the major peach-growing area, is calling for the development of a new variety that is adapted to global warming and offers even better flavor and quality than Akatsuki.
“In order to maintain the nationwide reputation as a peach-producing region, we hope a high-quality variety will be developed to meet the demand after the shipment period of Akatsuki ends,” Kazumata said.
An official of the Fukushima Prefectural Government’s agricultural promotion division expressed willingness to conduct cultivar improvement, saying, “We hope to meet growers’ expectations by finding a promising cultivar lineage that will lead to a new variety.”
The prefectural government and the farm co-op group in Fukushima established a joint project promotion council in fiscal 2018 to work together on developing original varieties for Fukushima’s farm produce based on market needs.
They will start full-scale discussions on policies for fiscal 2024 and beyond, including the development of new peach varieties.
Takamitsu Shirai, 52, a company executive from Date, Fukushima Prefecture, said, “It is a pity that we can’t serve Akatsuki to our families who return during the Bon holidays. We are looking forward to the debut of a new variety.”
Source : The Japan Times