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Kiwi Harvest in NorCal | Bartell's Backroads

If you buy kiwi fruit at Whole Foods, they probably came from Marysville. John Bartell visits the largest organic kiwi farm in California, just in time for the harvest.

Marysville, CA — If you are viewing on the ABC10 app, tap here for multimedia.

Yuba County is an agriculturally rich community.

It’s known for its rice, walnuts, and prunes.

But, just outside the Marysville city limits, in the town of Tambo, kiwi is king.

"Kiwi harvest season is in the fall, October and November,” explained Travis Noland.

Noland helps run Wild River Fruit with his dad, Mike Noland. It’s the largest organic kiwi farm in California. The kiwi is a really odd fruit. It grows on a vine, much like grapes, except Noland’s kiwi vineyard grows above your head.

Credit: John Bartell
Workers harvest kiwi at Wild River Fruit, in Marysville.

"They were originally called the Chinese gooseberry,” Mike said.

Gooseberries, or kiwis as we know them, have kind of a funny past. They are native to China, but when New Zealand started growing them, they decided to rename the fruit after their national bird, the kiwi.

The name may be different, but the fruit is still the same.

"Botanically, it's similar to a tomato," Mike said.

Once the kiwi is picked off the vine, they head to the packing house. Out in the field, it's picked by hand. Indoors, the production line machines do most of the work.

"What it is doing is basically taking pictures of the fruit, select defective fruit, and kick it out,” plant manager Jose Villalobos said.

Credit: John Bartell
Kiwis head down the assembly line on their way to being boxed up at Wild River Fruit, in Marysville.

Kiwi harvest is highly efficient. Thanks to a series of conveyor belts, the fruit is picked and packed in a matter of hours. Wild River Kiwis are shipped all over the world, and that’s because they have a long shelf life when kept cold.

“Our cold room is about 32 degrees,” Villalobos said. "After harvest they last roughly eight months under the right temperature."

When buying kiwi at the store, it's best to put them in a bag with a banana or apple to help the ripening process.

"Kiwi need ethylene to ripen, and those fruits are ethylene emitters," Travis said.

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