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  • Tom Szulist, co-owner of Singer Farms Naturals, looks over an apricot tree in full bloom on the farm in Appleton, N.Y., Monday. The Associated Press

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  • Tom Szulist, co-owner of Singer Farms Naturals in Appleton, N.Y., examines a sweet cherry bud. The Associated Press

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March 27, 2012

Cold front puts harvests at risk

Michigan farmers among those keeping watch

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — Anxious farmers in fruit-growing regions of the Great Lakes, Northeast and even parts of the South kept misters, smudge pots and helicopters in their arsenals as a cold front approached from Canada, threatening to freeze trees and vines overnight that had budded early amid record-setting warmth.

At risk are this season's harvests of wine grapes, apples, apricots, cherries, pears, peaches and possibly strawberries. If the freeze causes damage, consumers would likely notice it on a regional scale at farm stands, farmers' markets and other local outlets.

In Michigan, where peach trees are flowering, blueberries are blooming and asparagus is poking through, farms and wineries in low spots along the Lake Michigan shore will be most at risk because the cold air will sink, said Keith Creagh, director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

Cameron Hosmer was counting on a helicopter to mix warmer air with the cold at ground level this morning at his 60-acre vineyard in New York's Finger Lakes region. He worried most about his French-American hybrid grape De Chaunac, which are farthest along with half-inch buds, but noted he and other growers were at nature's mercy.

"We're not in charge," he said. "We're guests here. You're going to have to be prepared for disappointments."

The National Weather Service has issued hard freeze and frost warnings and watches in a swath from the central Great Lakes to the East Coast. Temperatures could drop as low as the mid-teens across a swath of states including Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia.

"This is absolutely the earliest we've seen," Cornell University horticulture professor Susan Brown said of the combination of freezing weather and plants that have come alive early. Most threatened overnight were apricots, which are already in full bloom.

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