Why You May Not Be Able to Find Georgia Peaches This Summer

The state of Georgia is famous for its peaches — practically synonymous with them. Sweet, juicy and fragrant, peaches are in season in the Peach State from May to September. During those months, you can generally buy them straight from the farm in crates, eat them fresh, order them in dishes in restaurants, integrate them into your pies and cobblers.

Summertime in Georgia is for sure all about the peaches. Every year. Except this one.

This year, the totemic state fruit — in homage to which popular songs are written and legendary baseball players were nicknamed — is in exceptionally short supply.

So, what’s the deal? Well, a heat wave in February and then two frosts in late spring destroyed, yes, 90 percent of Georgia’s locally grown peaches, wreaking havoc on employment in the state and its economy, and sharply driving up the price of the surviving 10 percent of crops. While boxes of peaches used to go for around $17 to $20 apiece wholesale, now they’re going for $40 — or even as high as $60 — each, CNN reports.

The peach crop devastation may be the worst the state has seen in decades. “I was talking to [an older farmer] and he said 1955 was the last time he saw it this bad,” one peach grower tells CNN. “It’s a financial loss, but it’s much more than that.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” another farmer tells The New York Times. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Even my father-in-law, who is in his 70s and farmed his whole life, can’t remember a year this bad.”

As a result of the crop loss, the Peach State has been compelled to import peaches from California. And while Georgians may be unhappy about that (some are reportedly refusing to do so and toughing out a peach-free summer), California peach growers, conversely have had a great year.

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