The beginnings
of the Talbott family first came to the Colorado in 1906 with Bruce
Talbott’s great, great grandfather. This first family member
sent letters back home to Green County, Iowa, talking about the beautiful
area in which he settled. And in 1918, his son Charles Yager joined
him in their new-found paradise.
The Talbott side of the family was cattle ranchers out of Lexington,
Ky. Harry Talbott, Bruce’s grandfather, moved to Colorado and
in the early 1930s was married to Margaret Yager.
Harry became a produce buyer, but decided to join the Army as a commissary
agent. In 1944, the man coming to interview Harry was killed in a
car accident, and Harry decided it wasn’t meant to be, Bruce
said. He returned to his family and planted a farm – among the
crops, tomatoes and peaches
Harry Talbott moved to Talbott’s current location in Palisade,
Colo., in 1947. And in 1985, Bruce’s father Harry Charles Talbott
and his sons – Bruce among them – took over the family
business.
“The Colorado peach industry has been relatively profitable
over the last 15 to 20 years,” Bruce Talbott said. “Part
of that profitability is, I think, we do a good quality peach. We
do a very mature peach. Part of it is we’ve had some good market
savvy and some marketing efforts that build up over that years that
have really paid off.”
Another aspect that helps the Talbotts – and other Colorado
peach growers – stay successful in the industry is that 50 percent
of the peaches never see a chain store or a packing shed.
“It’s going to farm markets, it’s being sold off
back of a pick-up, and it’s being used as fund raisers,”
Bruce said. “There’s such a presence in our marketing
area for good quality fruit being field packed that it puts a market
pressure on the chain stores to have a presence of Colorado peaches.”
This pressure makes Colorado peaches one of the state’s most
recognized agriculture products among its residents. In a survey of
the state’s residents, peaches were ranked as No. 5 on the list
of crops grown in Colorado.
But growing peaches isn’t necessarily easy. First of all, Talbott’s
is located at 4,700 feet in elevation and they receive only 8.5 inches
of precipitation each year – leading them to rely heavily on
irrigation. The Talbotts use both furrow and sprinkler irrigation.
But Bruce said they have three real challenges: spring frost; iron
chlorosis; and cytospora canker.
Palisade, Colo., gets warm in the spring, but because there is a lack
of humidity the temperature can have a big difference between highs
and lows. To deal with this, he said they use wind machines –
one wind machine is good for about 10 acres, he said. The high pH
soils lead to Iron chlorosis, or yellow trees. And, finally, cytospora
canker is a real serious problem for Colorado growers, Bruce said.
“It eventually kills off orchards,” he said. “A
lot of the California genetics are highly susceptible to cytospora
canker. It’s like canary in a mine, if you use a California
variety, you know you’re going to have it – they die first.”
There is a fourth pressure unrelated to the production of the peaches.
Development pressure in that area of Colorado is forcing many growers
out of business. Land values are between $20,000 and $30,000 per acre.
“Most of our (farm’s) growth has been in leases because
we can’t go out and buy the land and make the numbers work,”
Bruce said. “But if someone goes out and buys the land and wants
the orchards and the lifestyle but has to have a full time job to
support it and can’t farm, we can lease it from them.”
Talbott’s farms about 300 acres but owns only about half of
it.
Through time, Talbott’s has changed. In the 1950s, their major
market was people using the peaches for home canning. They would ship
their peaches to the Midwest for canning. But, Bruce said, that market
has disappeared. Now, the biggest section of their market is in non-shed
packing – direct market and direct sales.
Their fruit that does end up on chain store shelves earns them twice
the price on the wholesale market than California fruit growers receive.
“That’s why we’ve been healthy here in standpoint
of growing fruit,” Bruce said. “If we were getting the
same price as California, we’d have to cease and desist.”
As for the future, Bruce said they will continue to plant more peaches
and grapes. In 1985, their farm was 90 percent apples, 5 percent peaches
and 5 percent pears. Today, they are about 65 percent peaches, 15
percent apples, 15 percent grapes and 5 percent pears.
“My last Red and Gold Delicious come down after this season,”
he said. “The apples have hemorrhaged us so badly, if we were
in apples we wouldn’t be here today. I’m not sure how
some of these people in apples have lasted as long as they have.”
Bruce has three brothers, and all but one returned to the farm. The
third brother is a doctor in Mississippi, but he plans to come back
to the farm some day, Bruce said.
Fund raisers
One way peach growers in Colorado are making money is through fundraisers.
They sell their peaches to a group, such as a Lions Club, high school
band or church group. The group then presells the fruit. The grower
then delivers the fruit – in whatever quantity was ordered.
“They are getting a good equivalent to wholesale,” Bruce
Talbott said. “You know if it’s a fund raiser, you know
you’ll get good fruit.”
Talbott said the growers who do this have to wow their customers,
but he said it’s worth it, as some growers move 40 semi-loads
through fund raisers.
“The nice thing about this is they don’t care what the
market it, they’re comparing to retail,” Talbott said.
“They don’t know what the wholesale market is. The technical
receiver, the chain store, knows exactly what the market is and want
you to meet it or beat it.”
Though he doesn’t sell through fundraisers himself, Talbott
said they are a good way for growers to make a fair amount of money
for their produce.
“This impresses me,” he said. “The money’s
good and the volume’s there. At farmers’ markets, the
money’s good but you can’t move the serious volume.”
