Follow the journey of a Palisade peach
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Larimer County Farmers’ Market quietly wakes up around 8:30 a.m. As some vendors shuffle in with hand-crafted items and fresh produce for the day, others pull out tables and set up tents, preparing their stands for the crowd.
At the Rancho Durazno stand, however, a long line is forming, half an hour before the market officially opens.
“We’ve been getting peaches from [Rancho Durazno] for around 10 years, and they’re just so sweet,” said Ronnie Estelle, who was the first customer that day. “They have different varieties, flavors and they are just the best.”
Colorado Peach season is upon us, and the state’s famous Palisade peaches — known for their juiciness and sweetness — are starting to move from the Western Slope to the kitchens of Coloradans all across the Front Range.
Each summer between mid-July and September, local peaches land in grocery stores, farmers markets and roadside stands across the state.
Here is a glimpse into how farmers in Palisade get those peaches to a farmers market in Larimer County, 300 miles away.
Video: Joshua Vorse and Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Palisade
On Thursdays during peach season, Luis Angel Guzman makes sure the peaches picked from Rancho Durazno are in good enough condition for shipment across the state.
In the packing shed, Guzman, who supervises the packing line, works with a dozen employees to sort through peaches harvested by other workers in the orchard.
They examine each peach and classify it as either "first" or "second" quality, then place the fruit into its respective box. Afterward, they stack, wrap and load the boxes onto a truck for shipment.
Peaches labeled as “first” are of pristine quality, usually showing no blemishes or bruises.
“Seconds” are peaches that are still juicy and sweet, but might not be aesthetically up to par with the “first” label. “Seconds” are sold for less.
“[People] say this is the best fruit they’ve ever eaten. It makes us want to do our job well and continue to do it well,” Guzman said in Spanish.
After workers finish packing the peaches, a truck arrives in Palisade to transport the fruit to the Front Range.
Rancho Durazno partners with Topp Fruits — a farm in Hotchkiss and Paonia that also grows peaches and other produce — to share transportation costs as trucks move the peaches across the state.
Gwen Cameron, co-owner of Rancho Durazno, said that this is a good way to make trucking produce affordable for both farms.
“I think a word that you would use to describe a lot of growers in our region up here is ‘co-op-ition,’” said Harrison Topp, owner of Topp Fruits. “We’re competing with one another, but we also want to raise one another up.”
On Friday, July 11, workers were transporting the produce to a cooler space on the Front Range before the truck broke down in Steamboat Springs.
Cameron and Topp drove to Steamboat Springs themselves and delivered the peaches to the Larimer County Farmers’ Market at 3:30 a.m.
Farmer’s Market
At the farmers market, K-Lynn Cameron, Gwen Cameron’s aunt and manager of the Rancho Durazno fruit stand, started unpacking the peaches at 6:30 in the morning. She unloaded the peaches and set up the stand.
K-Lynn Cameron and her husband, Robert Keller, are both retired, but have spent their last nine summers selling produce from Rancho Durazno at the farmers market on Saturdays.
While K-Lynn Cameron arranges the stand and directs hired summer workers, Keller cuts up peaches, melons and apricots, offering up samples to customers waiting in line.
“I love it. Lots of cool people come here, and there’s just so much positive energy,” K-Lynn Cameron said. “When you see someone come to our stand and bite into a peach, their eyes get big because it’s so sweet and peachy. It’s just the most wonderful thing.”
Fifteen minutes after the market opens, the line at Rancho Durazno extends behind three other vendors’ stands as people line up to grab a box of Palisade peaches before the supply runs out.
“Western Colorado peaches, I think they’re the best in the world,” said Mark Easter, a Fort Collins resident who has been buying Palisade peaches for 30 years. “When foods are grown with such intention and the supply line is so short, the peaches that end up here are extraordinary.”
Rancho Durazno sold out of peaches before noon.
One Last Stop
As the farmer’s market winds down under the sweltering noon heat, the Food Bank for Larimer County’s semi-truck arrives with dozens of yellow totes for farmers to distribute.
In partnership with the Northern Colorado Food Shed Project, the food bank visits vendors and farmers with leftover food to sell, buys the goods at 65% of the market price and brings them to the local food bank for same-day or near-term distribution to patrons.
Rancho Durazno partners with the program. Whenever they have leftovers at the end of the market, their produce goes to the food bank.
Previously, K-Lynn Cameron would have to take the leftover peaches home to her house in Fort Collins and sell them out of her garage throughout the week.
“We want to take the load off of the farmer, off of the producer, by coming and meeting them where they're at so that they can go home with an empty truck,” said Carli Donoghue, executive director of the Food Shed Project.
Donoghue said there are so many costs when it comes to farming and selling that it’s a huge blow to many farmers if they aren’t able to sell all their food.
The program, called “Veg Out”, provides farmers a way to reduce food waste and still get money back.
Last year, the program collected 15,000 pounds of produce from the local market and delivered it to the food bank.
“It’s so important to us and the Larimer County Farmers’ Market that this fresh produce will end up in the hands of someone at the food bank,” K-Lynn Cameron said.
The program is funded through donations, local and federal funding, which has seen some cuts recently. The food bank lost $250,000 in overall food purchasing from the federal cuts.
Heather Buoniconti, Chief Development Officer of Food Bank for Larimer County, said that even though the program has seen — and might continue to see — cuts, the organization is working to secure more funding through state funds, grants and individual donors.
“We are still as focused as ever on our work and our vision of a hunger-free Larimer County, and continuing that work,” said Buoniconti. “Every day we have a focus on a nutritious product, especially if it's local, supporting a local farmer, the local economy, and getting food that's so fresh to our clients and families, it’s really important for our clients.”
After pick up at the farmer’s market, the produce is then introduced into the food bank’s no-cost market, where more than 50,000 individuals using the service can bring home fresh produce, like Palisade peaches.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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