According to Dario Chavez, an associate professor of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, the Peach State has lost more than 90% of this year’s crop after abnormally warm weather this winter, coupled with a late-season freeze. Georgia normally produces more than 130 million pounds of peaches annually, and the crop in 2021 was valued at nearly $85 million.
Georgia was the third-largest producer of peaches in the country as of 2021, according to the US Department of Agriculture. South Carolina – which is also seeing a thinner yield this year due to extreme temperatures – ranks second behind California, which produces four times more peaches than Georgia and South Carolina combined.
Crops like peaches require different number of “chill hours,” and this year the state did not have enough cold hours for many varieties that were planted. The problem was exacerbated when late-season cold temperatures swept across the Southeast. Some varieties of peaches had already started to bloom in March and were very susceptible to damage.
Source: edition.cnn.com