In the last 10 years, Indian Creek Farm in Ithaca, NY, has only lost two peach crops. This year may see the third lost crop, owner Stephen Cummins said.
“There may be a few out there alive now,” Cummins said, shrugging. “If there are, they would’ve either been killed last weekend or … they’ll be killed next week where it’s gonna be down to 21 degrees again or even in the teens, I think they’re calling for now.”
The dangerous part of the season hasn’t even begun yet, Cummins said, which is when the peaches will bloom and become more vulnerable to the elements.
The temperature has gone from cold to warm from one day to the next throughout this winter, which jeopardizes the plant lifecycle, Chief Operating Officer Alan Leonard said.
Trees actually need a certain duration of consistently cold temperatures, or “chill hours,” to get cold enough to become dormant, in which the tree’s sap fully retreats and the fruit buds are protected from frost damage, Leonard said.
“If in January or in February you get a lot of 60-degree days, the tree slowly starts to wake up a bit, and … then it’s no longer as hardy if it goes back down to a really severe cold temperature,” Leonard said.
An entire crop can be lost overnight if temperatures are erratic, Cummins said.
Warm weather also attracts fungi and bacteria. To protect the last of the peaches, Cummins said he will need to spray another round of copper fungicide and bactericide every time it rains and the temperature goes above about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. To cover the farm’s 25 acres, it would cost between $400 and $1,000 each spray, Cummins estimates.
“I do know we’ll have light crop at best, and in ways a light crop is worse than no crop because you have to spray for a whole season for those damn peaches,” Cummins said.
Cummins likes to characterize farming, especially fruit farming, as hedging which part of your salary you’re willing to lose, he said.
“If we were making our living growing peaches, we would be in the unemployment line,” he said.
Along with growing peaches, Indian Creek Farm grows apples, pears, plums, apricots and vegetables, and raises chickens.
Apples, which are a more resilient fruit than peaches and apricots, constitute the main source of income for the farm. Cummins said Indian Creek Farm has never lost an apple crop.
“Even in 2012, when almost every orchard from Michigan over lost — Cornell lost their crops, most of New York State lost — we had a full crop that year,” Cummins said.
Cummins predicts this year will be worse than 2012 in terms of crop loss.
Another major source of income is Cummins Nursery, where the farmers grow, graft and package budding fruit tree branches, Leonard said.
The Cummins nursery used be the New York State Farm Testing Association nursery operated by Cornell and the United States Department of Agriculture to test new varieties of commercial fruits, Leonard said. Stephen Cummins’ father, James Cummins, bought the NYSFTA nursery in 1995, Leonard said.
The nursery houses grafted fruit branches that can be sold to other farms and gardeners. Cummins said buying and selling grafts from nurseries can help farms cover operating costs and keep their customers if a crop fails.
Grafting is a process in which the budding branch, or scion, is surgically attached to a branch with an established root system, or rootstock, to continue the growth process off the farm, Greg Rothman, veteran nurseryman and herbalist, said. For fruit planting, Rothman said.
“It kind of gives the bud a head-start if there’s a bad winter,” Rothman said.
Once the buds are ready to plant, the buds are shaved from the graft into the soil, Rothman said.
Cummins said it is common in the farming trade to buy and sell grafts from other farms. If a crop fails, a farm can cover its operating expenses and keep its customers by selling fruit grown with these grafts, he said.
“Nothing makes up for the lack of peaches, it just helps to bring in a little extra income,” Cummins said.
Leonard said the farm is focusing on the nursery and other income sources instead of worrying about the peaches too much.
“Now’s the time when you start to find these things out, which is a lot better than just speculating on them,” Leonard said.
Michael Tkaczevski 
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