Georgia peach growers have brought in a bumper crop amid booming production

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — In the middle of a huge peach orchard in Hall County, Drew Echols says the family patriarch—Jimmy—would have been very proud.

“My granddad...he passed away back in December. I wish he had been able to see this,” Echols said.

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It’s a bumper crop at Jaemor Farms like no other.

Peach production is booming all over the state and Echols says it has been four years since it has been this good.

That’s because a late spring freeze that almost always happens, and kills off 20 to 40 percent of the crop, did not happen this year.

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So, his 16-man crew is now picking peaches five hours a day. In July and August, it’ll be 10 to 12 hours and 400 bushels’ worth.

Echols says his colleagues in middle and south Georgia are also bringing in a crop that is off the charts.

His granddad would have been proud.

“We have over 130 acres of peaches here. A lot of it, he never got to see in production. I have new trees I planted and a lot of old trees, too, that ‘he’ planted,” Echols said.

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