2 weeks Ago
RIDGE SPRING — Titan Farms CEO Ross Williams had given up on getting South Carolina peaches into Mexico. Leaders of the Ridge Spring farm first conceived the idea to export their prized peaches to Mexico nearly two decades ago, and in 2011, Titan exported two truckloads and about 80,000 pounds to the country. Regulatory challenges pertaining to pest control, though, eventually made the operation unfeasible — until 2024, when a strong peach season made it possible for Titan Farms to reenter the Mexican market.
“The Mexican peach market has been of interest for us for many years,” Williams said. “It offers some diversification from a marketing standpoint.” Located in Saluda County, Titan Farms is one of the largest peach growers on the East Coast.
Its more than 6,000 acres are used to grow peaches, bell peppers, eggplant and broccoli. The produce is grown, processed and shipped all from the family farm, established in 1999. Farm to Table: Charleston-area growers and chefs form dream team allowing small operations to expand Teaming up with the U.
S. Department of Agriculture, Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry and Mexican officials, Titan Farms sent more than 2 million pounds of peaches to Mexico in 2024. It’s the biggest peach operation east of California, the state Mexico has been relying on for the majority of its U.
S. peach imports in recent years. That changed when California-based Prima, the largest North American producer of peaches and other stone fruits, filed for bankruptcy in October 2023.
Teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Clemson University’s Department of Plant Industry and Mexican officials, Titan Farms stepped up to fill the void.
About 5 million Titan Farms peaches were placed in 65 truckloads and made their way to the Mexico City area in September. They’re marketed as South Carolina peaches and sold in chain and family-owned grocery stores. Response from consumers has been overwhelmingly positive, Williams said.
“As we like to say, South Carolina is the tastier peach state,” he said. “We were outselling the California fruit that was in the market there pretty substantially.” Mexico has historically been an important peach export market for South Carolina and Georgia, helping stabilize pricing and demand, according to the USDA .
Exports, however, were halted in 1994 when Mexico banned Southern peaches amid concerns over invasive pests. When imports from the U.S.
South resumed in 2011, Titan Farms restarted exports alongside the USDA and Clemson DPI, which provides inspection and certification services of nursery stock, agriculture goods and organic industries. SC gardener's trove of seeds could play a part in combating climate change, disease Peaches are regulated articles in Mexico, said M. Gavin Berry, Clemson DPI certifications program director.
The organization helped Titan Farms target pests, identify risk points and examine fruits. But the pest-related hurdles became difficult and expensive five years into the Mexico project, Titan Farms' Williams said. Peaches were getting stuck at the border, forcing the farm to pause the operation.
“We just really had a bad taste in our mouth there after 2016,” Williams said. The adoption of a new pest protocol at a state-of-the-art Texas facility made Titan Farms’ large-scale 2024 export to Mexico possible. The future, though, remains uncertain.
The pest treatment costs are still prohibitive, said Williams, who estimates the farm spent $300,000 in fees to get this season’s peaches to Mexico. Additionally, two full-time employees' sole responsibility was leading the project, he said. “That cost alone is difficult to swallow in an already cost-heavy production environment,” said Williams, adding that they still plan to ship to Mexico next season.
“We’re still trailblazing through what the best way to go about it is.” Berry, from Clemson DPI, believes the future of South Carolina's peach export industry in Mexico is bright. Key to the operation will be improved science and better options available to farmers to control or treat target pests, he said.
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