Farmers watching peach crop

Georgia peach farmers are keeping an eye on the weather as forecasters predict freezing temperatures.
Last spring a late freeze wiped out most of Georgia's peach crop. Temperatures dropped into the upper 20's over the Easter weekend, destroying more than 28-million dollars in peaches.
Wendy Barton is with Lane Packing Company in Peach County. She says tonight's forecast of temperatures in the low 30's should not cause problems. Temperatures need to stay below 28 degrees for at least four hours to cause major damage.
In fact, she expects this years harvest to be very successful.
"This year should be a great crop. We've gotten enough water. We've gotten enough cold hours. It looks like the peaches are going to be, it's just going to be one of the best years we've had in a couple of years."\
Georgia's peach industry is mostly concentrated in Middle Georgia. Growers there will begin harvesting peaches in mid May.

Big peach losses in middle Georgia

Losses to Middle Georgia's peach crop are much worse than expected. Growers in Peach County expected to lose about 50-percent of their crop after an Easter eve freeze. But now that harvesting has begun, it's looking closer to an 80-percent loss.

Trees that are normally loaded with peaches are producing just a small amount of fruit. Lane Packing has been in the peach business for almost 100 years. They say the freeze is one of the worst in the company's history.

However, according to company official Wendy Brown, the peaches they are harvesting taste good.

"the early varieties that we started picking on Saturday, they're small but tremendously sweet. The sun is what makes the peach sweet, but the size is not there because we have not had much rain".

The freeze is also impacting migrant workers. Normally Lane Packing employs close to 300 during the peach picking season, but this year they expect to have under 100.