Texas peaches typically make up about 60% of the market\u2019s peach sales this time of year, with the rest coming from Georgia and California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, longtime supplier Cooper Farms, for example, isn\u2019t selling outside its farm this year due to a smaller crop, so the market relies on Hutton for their Texas peaches, Sayers said.<\/p>\n
Hutton Peach Farm has been in business since the Huttons took over the orchard from another family in 1980.<\/p>\n
Gary Hutton said the family\u2019s interest was inspired in part by growing up with cattle, field crops and a big garden. The farm was also an investment opportunity.<\/p>\n
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Rows of peach trees stretch across Hutton Peach Farm. Rain or shine, Hutton recalls customers showing up for their peaches and the farm providing them. (Hannah Dollar | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
As a Fort Worth native, Hutton has seen the market shift over time, with local growers and fruit stands moving away from rural farmland and toward the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny of the fruit stands that you drive to now, we\u2019re all scattered out. We\u2019re not next door to each other,\u201d Hutton said.<\/p>\n
However, he now sees development pulling people back to rural areas, but without the desire to farm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite challenges, North Texas growers say they keep planting and picking, peach by peach, so customers can savor the unmatched flavor of a Texas peach, ripe and close to home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A career pivot and a gamble<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HEIF-Image-2.jpg\")
Bushels of freestone peaches of the July Prince variety sit ready for purchase at the Hutton Peach Farm store. (Hannah Dollar | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Every Saturday, Mary Alice Sattler greets loyal customers at the Denton farmers market, one of nine markets her family\u2019s orchard distributes fruit to regularly. Her family\u2019s passion for providing fresh fruit to local communities is rewarded with excited commentary from customers, she said.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been waiting for you all year.<\/p>\n
We love this fruit.<\/p>\n
This is the best peach ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you grow fruit locally and make it accessible to your communities, people are really excited about that,\u201d said Sattler, whose parents own Winona Orchards<\/a> in East Texas.<\/p>\n However, the unique demand for Texas peaches is sometimes met with the reality of supply discrepancies, Sattler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the supply can wax and wane, the demand is always there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some growers have roots in gardening or family farms, while others dug in without knowing they were gambling on a temperamental crop.<\/p>\n In 2007, Sattler\u2019s father, with no background in gardening or farming, planted the orchard, starting with 3,500 trees. Today their orchard shades nearly 50 acres with additional acres of berries adjacent.<\/p>\n \u201cPeaches are one of the most delicate and needy crops to grow. They are not simple to grow. It is wild that so many people are just like, \u2018Yeah, let\u2019s do it. Let\u2019s give it a go,\u201d Sattler said.<\/p>\n From hobby to blossoming business<\/p>\n Peach farming started as a hobby for Jim Herbison, owner of Gemini Peach & Rose Farm<\/a> in Denton.\u00a0<\/p>\n He retired from a career in chemical engineering and in 2008 bought land to grow roses, a passion that has won him awards for his gardens and hybridizations of the flower, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He transitioned to peaches after finding himself with more acreage than his rose bushes could fill.\u00a0<\/p>\n His initial 40 trees blossomed to more than 200 trees over the years, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing peaches isn\u2019t that easy,\u201d Herbison, 82, said. Growers battle the weather, insects, birds and squirrels. \u201cI thought when I selected peaches along with roses that it would be sort of a side thought, and I wouldn\u2019t have to do very much. But I found out otherwise very quickly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, he runs a pick-your-own-fruit operation and has \u201cmore customers than peaches,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Herbison often sees a line of cars waiting to pick peaches on a Saturday.<\/p>\n He finds joy in his relationships with his customers, offering advice on roses and peaches, and catering to families by providing picnic tables and a swing under a 250-year-old American elm tree.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m successful because I try to meet people where they are,\u201d Herbison said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with most large-scale growers near Parker County, which holds an annual peach festival that draws thousands, Herbison sees his farm as a commodity for his local customers.<\/p>\n Texas is still a net importer of peaches as the state produces less fruit than is consumed, indicating a strong demand that local growers cannot fully meet.<\/p>\n Larger sellers, such as Central Market, also prioritize local produce as \u201csome folks only want Texas fruit,\u201d said Nichelle Sullivan, Central Market public affairs manager. The grocery store chain uses a network of growers from across Texas throughout the season.<\/p>\n However, local growers who usually deliver directly to the Fort Worth store cannot due to this year\u2019s limited season, so the store gets fruit from Camp County and Lubbock County, Sullivan said.<\/p>\n The Texas peach industry has an advantage: it markets itself as a local and regional product, Hartmann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to go very far or sit very long, and that means you can pick it when it\u2019s pretty ripe,\u201d Hartmann said. \u201cThose fruits are going to have the best flavor because it\u2019s going to be the closest thing to picking a ripe, soft peach right off the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not always the case for many grocery stores, Sattler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing that ruins a peach faster than anything else is when it\u2019s stuck on a truck for two weeks,\u201d Sattler said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re getting a grocery store peach and it tastes like cardboard, there\u2019s a reason for that.\u201d<\/p>\n What are growers\u2019 favorite ways to eat a peach?<\/p>\n Winona Orchards market manager Mary Alice Sattler\u2019s favorite way to eat a peach is ripe and over the sink or in one of her homemade peach tarts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Herbison, owner of Gemini Peach & Rose Farm, loves his homemade peach ice cream. \u201cI\u2019m not a chef, but I can mix things pretty good. I haven\u2019t found anyone yet that said they didn\u2019t like my ice cream.\u201d<\/p>\n Gary Hutton, owner of Hutton Peach Farm: \u201cEating a really fresh peach right off the tree. I take some home and put them on the kitchen counter and let them ripen. I\u2019ll go wash one off and just eat it over the sink.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah Dollar is an audience engagement fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at hannah.dollar@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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