By Clint Thompson
Georgia will always be known as the “Peach State.” But at this point, it may just be about maintaining production instead of growing as an industry. There are multiple reasons for that, believes Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Peach and Taylor counties.
“I don’t know that in the middle Georgia area, the historical growing area of Georgia, that we’re going to really grow. There’s a lot of factors in that,” Cook said. “We don’t have a lot of new ground to put peaches. We don’t have a lot of ground that’s really suitable for peaches. If you go east of us, we’ve got a lot of people encroaching on this area.”
Middle Georgia Population
Robins Air Force Base has contributed to the incredible growth of people in Warner Robins in recent years. The city’s population was estimated at 89,009 in 2026, a 10% increase since 2020, and the population has almost doubled since 1993. What was a hub for peach production is now reserved for housing for the area’s population explosion.
“If you go back and look at the Warner Robins, Byron, Kathleen area, 13 or 15 years ago, it was a bunch of orchards. If you look at it now, it’s a bunch of apartments. That Houston County area is encroaching on this area over here,” Cook said. “I don’t see this area growing, it’s just kind of maintaining.”
According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, California is the top peach-producing state in the country with 475,000 harvested tons in 2022. South Carolina was second with 67,400 tons, and Georgia was third with 24,800 tons.
“I see a lot of growth farther south. We’ve got a new guy down in Lowndes County down around Ray City. We’ve got pockets of about 20 acres to 200 acres, being put in at different places farther south,” Cook said. “People are just looking to diversify. Some people see some opportunities in the early market, things like that.”