B.C. farm that can grow softball-sized peaches will rely on vegetables this year

B.C. Fruit Growers' Association's president says he expects harvests for peaches, apricots, nectarines and plums to be down at least 90 per cent.

One of the first indicators of how bountiful a fruit harvest will be in British Columbia comes months before any peaches, apricots or nectarines start fattening on trees.

Like many other farmers, Jennifer Deol of There and Back Again Farms in Kelowna cuts off some peach branches and brings them into a warm greenhouse to see how well the buds bloom.

The farm has a history of producing massive peaches, softball-sized giants that it has documented on social media. Another farmer on the same land grew an 810-gram peach in 2016, and submitted it for a Guinness World Record, although the mark has since been surpassed.

But this year, not a single flower opened on the greenhouse branches. The trees had fallen victim to a devastating January cold snap.

“We'll know (for sure) closer to May or June, because (with) different varieties, different trees, sometimes you'll get a little bit of crop,” Deol said.

“But it'll be 90 per cent, if not more, lost, based off of what we're seeing on the peaches, on the apricots, on plums.”

It's about as bad as it gets for Deol and the rest of the farmers who produce the signature summer stone fruits in the province.