ALPINE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Warm weather has many Michiganders looking forward to the fresh fruit and vegetables that will be coming to farm stands and markets. When it comes to summer fruit, Michigan’s so juicy-you-have-to-eat-them-over-the-sink peaches are the envy of the nation.
But the bitter cold that gripped the state this winter and spring has resulted in major damage to a favorite crop – peaches. For this summer and the foreseeable future, those peaches will be hard to find and expensive when they are found.
Todd Quick runs Peach Ridge Farms in Alpine Township, which has operated for almost 20 years. He runs it alone after his father and partner, Richard, died in July.
This time of year, he should be getting ready for the peach harvest, which will happen in the next three or four weeks.
Instead, he is using his well-used farm tractor to pull the trees from the earth.
“It’s tragic," Quick said as he grabbed at the dying or dead leaves on one of his damaged peach trees. “They’re just crisp. They’re just drying right up.”
He believes he has lost 500 trees, about a quarter of his entire peach crop.
“What happened is it froze, you can see right here where it froze right there, and exploded. It blew the bark right off the tree,” Quick says as he points at a section of the tree where the bark of peeled off like an exploded balloon.
Michigan State University Extension says the polar vortex on Jan. 31 wreaked havoc on the state’s fresh market peach crop, especially southwest of Allegan County.
"Two-thirds of the fresh market peach crop is gone,” said Bill Shane, a tree fruit extension specialist for MSU.
He says Michigan’s peach crop does not come close to other crops like apples and blueberries. But the state’s fresh market peaches are considered high quality with a short shelf-life that draws people from neighboring states.
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