Physiological and Technological Barriers to Increasing Production Efficiency and Economic Sustainability of Peach Production Systems in California

During the past two decades California fruit growers have faced dramatically increased production costs associated with increases in field labor wages and availability. Correspondingly, the primary research interest of most California peach growers is to develop viable techniques to reduce labor costs while maintaining orchard productivity and fruit quality. The majority of labor costs associated with peach production in California are associated with tree pruning, fruit thinning and harvest operations. There have been numerous attempts to mechanize each of these operations; however each has resulted in limited success. Developing new orchard systems to address these problems is very attractive because new systems could make incremental increases in efficiencies of all three operations. However, successful introduction of new systems requires understanding of factors controlling tree growth and productivity and the physiological responses to management techniques. This paper will focus on attempts to adopt new orchard systems and tree-based physiological and developmental barriers to increasing peach orchard efficiencies encountered in California.