By Clint Thompson
A couple of months have gone by since peach season concluded in Georgia. It is still difficult for farmer Drew Echols not to think about what might have been with his crop.
“Hardly a day goes by that me and my dad or me and Lee Dickey or somebody doesn’t talk about, ‘What if?’ Yesterday me and my dad were working on a tire for a trailer and the conversation was, ‘What if we have a full crop and peach prices are as high as they were next summer like they were this summer?’” said Echols, owner of Jaemor Farms and president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA).
“Now, that’s probably not going to be the case. You followed produce long enough to know that if the Southeast has a (bumper) crop, we’re probably going to be giving them away.”
Echols said he had the biggest crop he’s ever produced on Jan. 1. But that changed in mid-March following a freeze event, which followed unseasonably warm temperatures in February. The result devastated the region’s crop. But farmers are resilient and are already looking forward to a bounceback season in 2024.
“I was on about a 15-year run where I could hardly do any wrong as far as the peach business goes. I’ve been on a three-year run that just stinks. It’s got to turn around, right? Farmers are the eternal optimists, right? We’re just looking forward to it,” Echols said. “For us, I’m just ecstatic that we’re blessed with land, equipment that I can pivot to pumpkins or whatever it is. I never really wanted to be the dude you were calling about pumpkins. I would much rather you be calling me to talk about peaches.
“I think you’ll end up seeing farms coming out better on the backend of having a huge loss like that. They had to pivot and do something else, or they had to go up on prices. Particularly, I think the peach guys rise to that. They’re looking forward to another shot at it. We’ll just see.”