By Clint Thompson
Like in most areas in the Southeast, Central Alabama’s peach crop was impacted by freezing temperatures in mid-March. It wiped out early peach varieties, according to David Lawrence, regional Extension agent in central Alabama. That has changed since, however.
“We didn’t have a great early season or early crop. A lot of our mid-season varieties are coming. We’re getting into a little bit more volume than we have been,” Lawrence said. “That March 17 (event) that got us, we were a little bit ahead of schedule, ahead of where we would normally be that time of year as far as bloom goes, and they were pretty vulnerable. We had just a few hours there where it got too cold for us, so that got most of our early season stuff.
“There was a little bit better survivability on the mid-to-late season (varieties) but still just only a handful of varieties of what I would consider a good crop. Most of them are pretty lean, but we’ve got peaches.
“It’s variety to variety and farm to farm. It was widespread but it was kind of localized as far as the amount of damage we got.”
The lack of early peaches has also impacted how producers market what crop they have this season.
“A lot of growers are going to really focus on retail markets. A lot of our growers, they’ll sell retail and also do wholesale. What they have is really kind of good towards that retail market to get the most value out of what they have,” Lawrence said. “That means less volume for their wholesale. That’s where they’re focusing their efforts right now.”