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Fresh peaches, but not many
United States
Monday 02 July 2007
Fresh peaches. Now.
That's right, despite being nearly annihilated by an Easter freeze, Charlotte-area growers cobbled together a summer crop - smaller, pricier and subsidized by other farms a little less scarred by the spring cold.
The taste? A sweet sample from The Peach Tree Orchards in York County, S.C., was so juicy that the fruit slipped from the hand.
The freeze, which farmers call the worst in 11 years, wiped out about 90 percent of the N.C. and S.C. peach crops. South Carolina, which trades off being the Southeast's largest peach producer with Georgia, is expected to yield 8.000 tons of the fruit this year, compared with 60.000 tons last season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Some farmers lost every peach.
"I don't have a peach in the whole orchard. We're getting peaches wherever we can find them," said Ben Smith, who grows more than 30 varieties on his 75-acres farm in York County. His stand, The Peach Tree Orchards, is getting three shipments of peaches a week from farms that produced some fruit. His recent supply has come from Batesburg-Leesville, about two hours south of York.
Naturally, this year's precious supply means fewer jobs and higher prices.
That's right, despite being nearly annihilated by an Easter freeze, Charlotte-area growers cobbled together a summer crop - smaller, pricier and subsidized by other farms a little less scarred by the spring cold.
The taste? A sweet sample from The Peach Tree Orchards in York County, S.C., was so juicy that the fruit slipped from the hand.
The freeze, which farmers call the worst in 11 years, wiped out about 90 percent of the N.C. and S.C. peach crops. South Carolina, which trades off being the Southeast's largest peach producer with Georgia, is expected to yield 8.000 tons of the fruit this year, compared with 60.000 tons last season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Some farmers lost every peach.
"I don't have a peach in the whole orchard. We're getting peaches wherever we can find them," said Ben Smith, who grows more than 30 varieties on his 75-acres farm in York County. His stand, The Peach Tree Orchards, is getting three shipments of peaches a week from farms that produced some fruit. His recent supply has come from Batesburg-Leesville, about two hours south of York.
Naturally, this year's precious supply means fewer jobs and higher prices.
