Adopt a peach tree

Again, I go back to the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group for our next topic. Luis provides this link to a fascinating business model from a peach grower looking to connect with consumers.

From the Web site of David Mas Masumot, a Fresno-area organic peach and grape farmer and author of several books:

Personalized Produce
One of our goals is to personalize my produce. Our work on the Masumoto Family Farm is not just to grow something that people pay money for. We take this personally - and want consumers, peach lovers, food enthusiasts to share our passion. Here’s an opportunity for you to come harvest your own peaches and share the farmer's dilemmas, challenges and rewards.
By adopting a tree, these Elbertas will be yours for a year of gestation. We at the Masumoto farm will take care of the early work of pruning, irrigating and pest control. We utilize only organic practices, adopting the best natural practices (by the way, the entire farm is certified organic).
However, the most critical time will be your responsibility - the moment of crucial decisions and trying to understand the dramatic rhythm of farming: HARVEST TIME.

Adopt A Lifestyle, Harvest Like A Farmer
Your tree will be waiting for you - and you will be kept abreast of how your peaches are doing.
Like most natural arrivals, delivery date cannot be predetermined nor scheduled. We can estimate that approximately the last Saturday in July or the first or second Saturday in August. - your peaches will be ready for your hands to carry them to their new homes. This is very much like giving birth naturally (we don’t schedule Cesarean peaches on our farm)!
You and your family, friends, and neighbors will come to the Masumoto farm and hand harvest your own peaches. For two Saturdays you can come pick, enjoy, select ripe, over ripe and ripening fruit - and determine how you want to use your harvest.
We suggest you adopt a tree with others - your extended family, your neighbors, perhaps a group or an organization can adopt a tree and send a small work crew to come do the harvest! We will provide ladders and picking boxes - you’ll need to provide the personal touch

TK: What a great concept - particularly if it works. Have consumers take ownership in the process and literally lend their backs to harvest the peaches from their adopted tree. As Luis commented in the discussion group, there are amazing and endless ways growers can connect with the public: "In this case, combine Japanese sensibility, business acumen plus the ability to write and you have "aspirational" peaches."