By Clint Thompson
Georgia’s peach producers are finally enjoying the fruits of their labor this year.
“It’s good, it’s really hard to complain about this crop,” said North Georgia producer Drew Echols. “The flavor is great. There’s a lot of beautiful peaches.”
Echols and other growers with a crop had reason to be smiling this harvest season. Last year’s crop was devastated by late-season freezing temperatures that followed a warm February. Early blooms were vulnerable to the cold temperatures that followed a few weeks later. The result was a minimal crop for producers like Echols.
A Hit With Buyers
But growers weren’t the only ones to miss out on last year’s crop. Customers were yearning for Georgia peaches, as evidenced by strong demand this year.
“The most important thing is not how many peaches you can grow, it’s how many peaches you can sell. That is always my philosophy. Demand has been high,” Echols said. “I think customers have missed them. Clearly growers have missed them, but customers have missed them as well. That’s the best part. Yes, I’m happy I have a peach crop, but I’m more happy people are buying them.”
The only disappointment this year was smaller size to some of the varieties, which mostly stemmed from the prolonged dry period felt throughout Georgia this summer.
“You really need (rain) around the time of seed hardening. They’re using a lot of water, and that’s when it started drying up, during seed hardening time. A lot of us are irrigated, but there’s nothing to replace rain, right? When you’re dealing with trees, it’s a little bit different than a vegetable crop,” Echols said. “The dry weather came at an inopportune time. But the flavor is as good; I’ve eaten more peaches this year than I have in a while. Customers keep raving. They seem to be real happy with what they’re buying.”