It's been a tough year for Alabama farmers after dealing with the freezing temperatures back in March, impacting crops.

It's caused some farms in Chilton County to lose their entire peach crop, while others have been able to get a percentage of their crop.

At Mountain View Orchards some peaches, like the July Prince, are doing well and will be ready to be picked.

"We got all these peaches beside it that are small, that was freeze damage, even peaches up to that size, the seed is ruptured, it'll grow to a certain point and quit growing," explained peach farmer Andy Millard.

Millard said the mid season peaches are making up for some of the loss, but it's still short. Currently they have about 25% of their crop.

"The March freeze was tough, we did what we could, we flew helicopters trying to protect our crops but if we didn't have the mid season peaches we have, you can see we are in July Prince, it's pretty heavy and we have a couple of varieties in this season we're picking quite a bit of peaches, but nothing compared to what we normally, so they are making up for some of the loss of other varieties, but it's pretty short," said Millard.

It has an impact for their season overall. Millard said they won't be able to fill a lot of their shipping order of peaches to other states, but will still have plenty of peaches locally.

"Our wholesale end is really suffering. We are able to have peaches at the farm, so locally people can come buy peaches, we will have plenty for them," said Millard.

David Lawrence, regional extension agent for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said there shouldn't be any concerns for finding a peach at the Peach Jam Jubilee this weekend.

"They are harder to come by and a little more expensive this year, just as you would imagine, but if you really want a peach, you'll be able to find one somewhere," said Lawrence.

Lawrence explained, the weather has impacted several farms in the Southeast Region, particularly with peaches and blueberries.

"Usually when it gets down to 26 or 27 or so, when we are in bloom we can do something about that, but when it gets so cold there's only so much you can do," said Lawrence.

Lawrence and Millard both said they haven't seen a freeze impact crops like this since 1996. Both are optimistic next year will be a better year.

Source - https://abc3340.com