Time to savor peaches

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:05 JST, August 4, 2022

MAEBASHI — Peach harvesting and shipping is now at its peak in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture.

On a recent day, workers were busy checking the shape of the fruit harvested in the morning, looking for blemishes, and placing the peaches on a machine to sort them by size at a fruit-sorting station in the city.

According to a local JA agricultural cooperative, the shipment volume of peaches has dropped to only 30% of its usual level due to hail in June that damaged many of the fruit or even knocked them from their trees. “But their size is just the same as those harvested in previous years, and the fruit to be harvested later this season will be even sweeter,” a JA official said.