Peach orchards in Georgia and South Carolina will produce a meager harvest this year, the result of a warm winter followed by a hard freeze in the early spring, said the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “What does that mean for peach eaters in the Peach State? Probably only a shorter season,” said the newspaper, as growers sell the fruit close to home and curtail out-of-state sales.
State Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told the Atlanta paper that nearly 80 percent of the Georgia peach crop was lost due to the abnormal weather which also hammered blueberries. In neighboring South Carolina, more than 85 percent of the crop was lost this spring and its possible that none of the commercial peach packing sheds will open this year, said Black.
In the Northeast, peach growers may see a bumper harvest, a welcome rebound from the cold weather wipe-out of 2016, said the Boston Globe. “Everything just dialed in this year,” New Jersey grower Al Caggiano told the Globe. Peaches are typically harvested in early summer and are the first money crop of the year for fruit farmers, which gives the crop a critical role in a farm’s financial health, said Massachusetts agriculture commissioner John Lebeaux.
California grows roughly three-fourths of the U.S. peach crop, followed by South Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey.