桃子产业

Georgia has been long known as the Peach State and the largest producer of peaches and pecans in the United States is located in Fort Valley. Georgia produces more than 130 million pounds of peaches each year and peaches grown here are arguably the best found anywhere in the world. Nearly all peaches grown in Georgia are sold in the wholesale fresh market, 只有一小部分在路边市场出售. 在乔治亚州没有大规模的桃子加工

乔治亚州有两个商业桃子种植区. 桃县是中部地区的心脏地带，人口约1.6 million peach trees yielding about 100 million bushels every year, 占该州产量的75%. The southern region produces about 30 million pounds of peaches annually.

中部地区包括桃子, 克劳福德, 沿着瀑布线的泰勒和梅肯县, the transition zone between Georgia's Piedmont and Coastal Plain. This area is far enough north to receive sufficient winter chilling, but far enough south to avoid late frosts and guarantee early harvest dates. 提前收获可以使作物获得高价. 另外, the sandy loam soils of the fall line are more favorable to peach production than the Piedmont's heavy clays or the Coastal Plain's sands.

There is a small commercial presence in Brooks and Pierce counties in south Georgia, where new varieties suitable for those areas are improving fruit quality. The new varieties seem to be responsible for a surge in the planting of peaches in this region of the state. 从历史上看, 佐治亚州北部也有相当大的桃子产量, but during the 1980s and 1990s acreage declined because of frequent freeze damage and relatively late harvest dates.

As many as 18 peach packing houses lined the streets of Fort Valley in the heyday of the peach industry. Byron, the county’s only other city, located some 12 miles north on the rail line, had as many as 14. One local grower moved his house several thousand yards so he could watch his peaches being loaded into rail cars (that structure, 劳特曼之家, currently houses the chamber and Fort Valley’s Main Street offices).

Today there are just two major growing and packing operations here, 车道 Southern果园 and Pearson's Big 6农场 owned by two families who have lived and worked and farmed here for more than 130 years!  

Big 6农场

Five generations of the Pearson family have farmed the red Georgia clay in this area for more than 130 years. The Pearson family's Big 6农场 is comprised of 1,500 acres of peaches and 2,000 acres of pecans. This family farm produces a bounty of fruit and nuts with the finest being used in Mary Pearson's online e-commerce business, 皮尔森农场.

It all started in 1885 when Moses Winlock (Lockie) Pearson and his wife, 艾玛, moved to middle Georgia and planted their own family roots and the first peach trees for the Pearson family. 他们最终有了六个儿子和六个女儿. 他们的一个儿子, 约翰, 现任管理合伙人艾尔·皮尔森的祖父, 开始自己种地, adding more land to the family holdings and planting more peaches.

劳顿, 约翰·李·皮尔森和罗莎·李·皮尔森最小的儿子, and his wife Laurie began to work with the family farm in Zenith and they had three children: Peggy, 安和艾尔. 当孩子, the Pearson children all worked in the peach packing shed every summer where lessons in perseverance and tenacity were learned. 不管多累，不管多晚, peaches must be ready for timely shipping to New York and other points north.

大学毕业后，艾尔和他父亲一起务农. In 1972, he married Mary McLennan whom he met at the University of Georgia and they also have three children – Mary Katherine, 劳顿和劳里. 1973年，艾尔开始以Big 6农场的名义经营这个农场, 这是艾尔和他的两个姐妹的合伙企业, 一起务农35年. 艾尔和他儿子劳顿, 刚从法学院毕业, 2008年买下了这家公司，开始一起种地. 劳顿 married Lanier Defnall and they now have three young children – Adeline, Cort and Sutton. 阿尔和劳顿还种植了一大片山核桃.

Big 6农场 has met the food safety standards and Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) guidelines set by the USDA and the FDA. Big 6 has also met the audit standards established under the Georgia GP Food Safety Programs. It is one of only three farms in Georgia to earn this designation and the only peach and pecan farm.

车道 Southern果园

车道 Southern果园 and Taylor Orchards merged in 2018 to create the largest peach and pecan operation in the United States. The consolidated operation packs peaches under the 车道 Southern果园 label.

泰勒果园农场,000 acres of peaches and 950 acres of row crops including peanuts and soybeans, 车道 Southern orchard农场,000英亩的桃子和3,500英亩的山核桃. 除现有面积外, the company’s aggressive growth plan includes an additional planting in 2018 of 700 acres of new peach production and 1,000英亩的新土地用于种植山核桃, 结果超过10个,000英亩的种植面积.

Founded in 1908 by 约翰 David Duke as Diamond Fruit Farm, 车道 Packing Co. 种植了6000多英亩的桃子和山核桃. 位于Fort Valley外, the fourth-generation family operation now grows more than 35 varieties of peaches.

约翰·大卫·杜克于1942年建立了他的第一家桃子包装厂. J.杜克包装公司. 由他的女婿大卫. 车道和他的孙子Duke 车道 Sr. 1950年，包装车间被称为莱恩包装公司.

在他父亲退休后，老公爵. 成为独资所有人, 直到1975年, continued to pack peaches at the same location his grandfather built in 1942.

1976年，老杜克·莱恩. 与罗素·皮尔森家族合伙. Together they built a more modern packing house and named the company Pearson & 车道. 这种伙伴关系一直持续到1989年. After the 1989 season, the 车道 family began construction of a new packing house on the family farm. This facility is one of the most modern of its kind and was ready just in time for the 1990 crop.

随着新包装厂的建成，老杜克巷. turned the business over to his four children -- the late Ann Rigdon, Duke Jr., Bobby and Steve -- who, along with their children, remain active in the operation of the company.