SC peach growers suffer 'big hit' from March freeze

Bill Bengtson, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·4 min read

Jun. 2—RIDGE SPRING — The state fruit is within easy reach for local buyers as summer approaches, but South Carolina peaches may be hard to find for would-be customers in other parts of the country this season in the wake of a late-winter freeze.

Some peach growers are estimating their losses at 70% for 2023, and the critical moments may have been during the second week of March, when temperatures in some of the state's richest peach country were below freezing for more than 12 hours.

The result is a "short crop," in the words of Matt Forrest, co-owner of Dixie Belle Peaches, in Ridge Spring. "We're picking a lot less, but what we have is good peaches."

Forrest's operation involves about 3,000 acres spread among Edgefield, Saluda and Orangeburg counties, and picking normally runs from May 1 through Labor Day, he said.

"It's kind of crazy," said Jason Rodgers, chief operating officer of farming operations at Ridge Spring-based Titan Farms, the largest peach grower east of California. "Typically, when you lose fruit, you lose them on the front end or on the back end, but we kind of lost some throughout the crop. We do have peaches. We're picking almost every day, but not near the volume."

Employee impact has also been substantial. "Because of the freeze, we sent home — back to Mexico — 155. We normally have around 800," Rodgers said.

Titan currently has about 5,000 acres in peach production this season, spread among Aiken, Edgefield, Saluda, Orangeburg and Berkeley counties.

One local grower estimated this year's crop as a three on a scale of one to 10. Some declined to comment. Another local authority suggested a rating of two and estimated the crop damage as between 70 and 90%.

Sarah Oswald Scott, a Clemson University extension agent, noted, "We definitely have been hit hard this season in terms of cold damage. The freeze events that we had in March really hurt the crop and we are probably only going to harvest around 30% of what we normally would in a season. We will still have peaches and folks can still find fresh-picked baskets at local produce stands and in grocery stores, but we will not be packing and shipping near as many fruit as we normally would."

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also issued a statement: "Georgia and South Carolina ag producers indicate they expect a significant drop in production due to March freeze events. Several counties have submitted disaster declarations to USDA for consideration concerning their peach crop."

A USDA report from the last week of May in South Carolina noted, "Peaches were being harvested; however, harvest was behind schedule given the cold events in March. Brown rot and bacterial diseases were major issues for peaches this year due to the freezing winter temperatures and reduced spraying schedules."

Forrest, referring to peach trees, said, "We probably have 35 varieties, and a handful came through good, and a lot have various degrees of damage from the freeze."

Dixie Belle, he said, has a market that includes "everything east of the Rockies."

"It's a big hit," said Michael Crim, one of Ridge Spring-Monetta High School's agriculture educators. He noted that this season's reduction in workers means fewer purchases from Dollar General, Walmart and similar retail outlets.

"Migrant workers ... aren't going to buy a car, but they might buy work clothes and groceries," he said. "It hits not just the growers, but their employees."

California is the top peach-producing state in the country, followed by South Carolina and Georgia, in that order, according to a September 2022 report from the USDA.

South Carolina Peach Council's website notes, "Alone, the South Carolina peach industry grosses approximately $80 million annually to the state and employs over a thousand people. This figure does not reflect the money spent within the state and local communities by the peach industry towards other related industries such as trucking, equipment maintenance, paper products, chemicals, and marketing. The income value of the peach industry to other industries is an estimated $30 million value."