Jul 2, 2012New York apple crop takes a significant hit
Ken Nice has been growing fruit for 50 years and he’s never seen such bare branches on his apple trees during the growing season.
“There are some trees with nothing on them,” said Nice, a Knowlesville fruit farmer.
He thinks he may have 10 to 20 percent of his usual apple crop. For the first time in a half century, he doesn’t have any sweet cherries. None survived the spring freeze.
Nice and many other fruit growers in New York have a decimated crop. The state typically produces about 30 million bushels of apples worth about $250 million annually.
New York apple industry officials haven’t officially released an estimate for the apple crop, but one source said it may only be 50 percent of the usual, or about 15 million bushels total. That may be optimistic. The industry official said there may only be 12 million bushels. The Daily News
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