With a large retail presence, Lane Southern Orchards is in a good position to recognize market trends and take advantage of them.  What trends are driving the peach industry today?  According to Duke Lane III of Lane Southern Orchards, it’s the growing interest in healthy, locally grown, fresh foods.   

“It’s not a trend really; it’s a movement.  Consumers are becoming more interested in where their food comes from.  As peach growers, that movement serves us well.  We are one of four or five commercial peach growers in Georgia that supply local, fresh and healthy peaches to retailers all season long,” Lane explained.

Peaches are the official state fruit of Georgia.  The state produces more than 40 varieties and more than 130 million pounds of peaches between mid-May and mid-August.

Always ask for Georgia peaches
Lane is also the current president of the Georgia Peach Council.  In their latest consumer campaign, the Council urges people to “always ask for Georgia peaches.”  So far in 2010, people seem to be doing just that.  The number of visitors to Lane Southern Orchards, which typically averages 300,000 per year, is up this year.

“Following a cold, wet winter and some slowdown due to remodeling at our facilities, May, June and July have been wonderful months for us,” Lane said.

Located just outside of Ft. Valley, Lane Southern Orchards grows peaches and pecans on almost 5,000 acres. Their commercial peach packing operation has the capacity to pack and ship up to 1 million 25-lb. cartons of peaches per season.

Lane Southern Orchard is also a destination for agritourism.  They offer orchard tours, corn maze tours, spring strawberry picking, facilities for weddings and other events as well as a restaurant and retail store.  Summer visitors are often vacationers traveling on Interstate 75.  Throughout the year, local visitors are found daily having lunch at the PeachTree Café.

Picking and packing peaches
According to Lane, the biggest issues impacting peach growers in Georgia are increasing labor costs and water rights.

“Labor is by far our biggest input each year. We use the H-2A guest worker program for harvest, but it’s getting to be almost unmanageable,” Lane said.

The H-2A guest worker program, run by the Department of Homeland Security with approval from the Department of Labor, supplies a small percent of the total number of farm workers in the United States.  In 2009, the Department of Labor approved 94 percent of the applications growers submitted for H-2A workers, which resulted in about 86,000 migrant farm workers.  The program rules have changed multiple times in recent years.

“Even with high unemployment it’s hard to find local labor to pick peaches.  The H-2A program helps but each year the cost goes up.  I’m not sure what the answer is but I think some form of immigration reform is extremely important not just to peach and pecan growers but to all of agriculture,” Lane said.

Lane also believes water storage and water rights are key issues for agriculture in Georgia.  While not as difficult an issue to address as immigration reform, Lane sees the need for additional funding to build reservoirs to create a reliable, sustainable water supply.

For more information on Lane Southern Orchards, visit www.lanesouthernorchards.com.  More information on the Georgia Peach Council is available at www.gapeaches.org

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