After two weeks of harvesting, this year’s Hermiston watermelon yield is looking good, according to Walchli Farms shop foreman Curtis Pederson.
The farm began harvesting watermelons July 14 and will continue until early October.
“It’s been a good year,” Pederson said. “The early heat set them back a little. They don’t like it when it’s too awful hot. When it’s over 100 (degrees), they don’t like all that too well. Other than that, good hot days make for good watermelon selling.”
He did not have any specifics yet regarding this year’s yield.
“We’ve got two more full months to go so it’s hard to calculate yield on the season,” he said, “but every field has yielded well so far, what we’ve gotten into.”
Pederson added that it was too early to compare the 2023 harvest to last year’s season.
“We have to outrun our expenses and see how we end up, but overall it’s looking good,” he said. “We’re having good yield in the field so far, and the weather has been holding out good.”
According to Pederson, Walchli Farms begins its watermelon crops by growing seeds in a greenhouse in April because of freezing temperatures. Workers then move the plants to the fields the following month.
“If we tried to plant seeds at the first of April, they’ll get froze out,” he said.
And when it comes to what makes the Hermiston watermelon special, he cited several factors.
“The elevation for this area in Umatilla County is just right, and we have sandy loam soil,” Pederson said. “That combination with the weather, getting into cool nights but not cold nights, and then throw in good long growing days.”
And when harvest time comes, he said, the farm has workers in the field daily.
“So the picking crew goes through and selects the ripe ones, and the pitching crew goes through and loads into the truck the ones that are picked,” Pederson said.
“Then we bring them through the processing shed and size them, clean them, sticker them and do a quality control check before putting them into the Hermiston bins with the Hermiston logo. Then we ship them out.”
He said the farm ships melons to distribution centers in western Washington and to Walmart in Grandview, Washington, among others. The centers then ship the fruit to different regions.
“Last year, we saw watermelons in Hawaii, Alaska, Kansas City, Missouri, and just about everywhere in between,” Pederson said.
He said other Hermiston locations that grow and sell watermelons include Bellinger Farms and Pollock & Sons.
Wow! That’s quite a process from planting to market! Who knew? Good job gang!
Great melons. Keep up the good work!
Keep up the hard work, I hope it pays out good for you all.