The Cost of Producing Peaches in Utah County, 1947

Peach production in Utah County is an important farm enterprise. In 1944, 342,525 bushels were produced, valued at $685,050. This was 5.5 percent of the total value of all agricultural products sold or used in the home for the year 1944. In value and acreage the peach crop leads all other fruit crops produced in Utah County. Utah County is the most important peach producing area in the state. It contained 28 percent of the total farms reporting peach orchards, 44.7 percent of all peach trees and 40.6 percent of the number of bushels harvested in the state for the year 1944. In 1938 the varieties of peach trees in Utah County in order of tree number were as follows: Elberta first, J. H. Hale second and Early Elberta third. Varieties of lesser importance included Late Crawford, Heath Cling, Rochester, Greensboro and others. The peach is a perishable farm commodity, and must be marketed within a short period of time. Canning factories provide a market for a small portion of the crop, but the major part must be marketed as fresh fruit through peddling from door to door, through the fruit and vegetable department of the grocery stores, through selling at roadside stands usually operated by the producer, or through out-of-state shipments usually handled by producers\u27 marketing associations or produce brokers operating in the area. Utah peaches in out-of-state trade go into Idaho, California, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Iowa. In some years a few peaches get into markets in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Utah peaches are competing on these markets with peaches from central and northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Arkansas, Illinois, and Indiana. On the local markets Utah peaches find competition with peaches from Idaho, California, and Colorado. With this competition of peaches for markets, it is very necessary that producers keep fully abreast with all new methods and practices and be able to tell where their business can be made more efficient and profitable