Michigan fruit growers are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst after record-warm temperatures in February turned to freezing overnights and snow in March.

The Schell Family Farm in Pinckney lost most of its crop last year due to storms and hail in June.

"It's bleak. It's not looking good at all. I don't know for sure yet on my farm, but we definitely started to get some green tip about two weeks ago, which is not good. Then we immediately went down to 14-15 degrees on my farm a couple days later," says owner Chris Schell.

"Peaches, you're kind of in that 10-20 degree range, with green tip you're looking at 10-90 percent crop loss," he says. "I'm optimistic. I'm trying to be hopeful we won't have that much damage, but we won't know for probably another two or three weeks how much damage was really caused from that warm up and cool down."

Some fruit growers in southwest Michigan already are reporting a total loss this season.

Schell warns consumers that "locally grown" fruit may be hard to find at the market or grocery store this summer.

"Meijer is going to have to scramble and try to find places. Washington is big grower. They'll probably reach out to them and get more fruit from them," he says.

"Your farmer's markets that are all local grown stuff, you're not going to see as much of that stuff. Your Eastern Market, you're probably not going to see as much fruit and fresh cider and stuff. Price is going to go up and availability is going to definitely go down."

Source - https://www.whmi.com