Dickey Farms

Dickey Farms has been growing peaches in the heartland of Georgia for over 125 years. Our growers are part of a multi-generational legacy with experience being handed down from one generation to the next. We’re proud to be home to Georgia’s oldest, continuously operating peach packinghouse. In 1936, Robert L. “Mr. Bob” Dickey built the packinghouse with lumber hewn off his own land.  Today, the long white building is a prominent landmark in historic Musella, Georgia.  At the time of construction, the packinghouse was ideally located near rail lines for better transportation to the peach-hungry North. “Mr. Bob” was an early pioneer of “multitasking”, being a postmaster, undertaker, depot agent and general store manager.  Today, the general store is still located across the packinghouse. However, his heart was in the peach industry, and we are reaping the rewards today. In the early days of Dickey Farms, mules were used to plow the orchards and to transport peaches to the packinghouse.  At that time, most of the work was done manually.  However, “Mr. Bob” was a forward-thinker, always wanting to introduce labor saving equipment. He installed Georgia’s very first brushing machine to remove the peach fuzz. He was also one of the first producers to include a hydro-cooling system that places peaches in 35-degree water to remove field dust and slow the ripening process, making them perfect when reaching the northern markets. While “Mr. Bob” shipped all his fruit by refrigerated railroad cars, peaches today are shipped by refrigerated trucks, which can reach some markets overnight.  Although many changes in the industry have been made over the last 100 years, the Dickey family still continues the tradition of providing the highest quality peach.