Where’s the fruit?

If you’ve been to a summer farmers market in California, Oregon, Washington or some other lush, temperate local, you probably witnessed an abundance of fruit. When you peruse one of our markets, you may have noticed that there aren’t a lot of peaches, apples, berries and other fruits available. So why isn’t there more fruit here in Northern Arizona? There are myriad reasons for this. Here are some of the biggest ones:

1. Our rules. Prescott Farmers Market has strict rules for growers selling at our market. We are a producer-only market, which means that everything you see at the market is grown/raised/made by the people selling it. With this rule in place, we ensure that your food has integrity and is truly local.Now the part about growing fruit: it’s not easy here.
2. The climate. Northern Arizona is prone to late frosts; sometimes as late as June. Fruit trees blossom in the spring, anywhere from early March through May and if we receive a frost when the flowers are open, they get zapped. Ask someone who has a fruit tree in Yavapai County and they’ll probably tell you that they only get a crop every 5-7 years. This is the main reason.
3. Pests. Codling moths, borers, birds, ground squirrels–all ruin a good crop of tree fruit. Unlike vegetables, which you can replant and harvest a few months later, when fruit is damaged, there’s no bounty until next year.
4. The work. Fruit trees need people. They need care throughout the year in order to bear fruit and require special knowledge of how to care for them. Harvesting berries, specifically, is urgent and labor-intensive. For growers who depend on income from the crops they grow, fruit trees and berries are a gamble (as is farming in general), and the odds of a beautiful, profitable harvest are not in their favor.

So what fruit can be grown in Yavapai County? 

If the weather cooperates and gophers and worms don’t ruin the crop, you can expect to find the following local fruits in limited supply at the market between June and October:

• apples
• apricots
• asian pears
• blackberries
• figs
• cherries
• peaches
• pears
• persimmons
• plums
• pomegranates
• raspberries
• strawberries

Citrus trees grow in the Phoenix area and fruits ripen during the winter. Look for lemons, grapefruit, oranges and tangerines between December and April.