FINCASTLE, Va. – When Preston Bryant’s dad started Bryant Family Orchards in 1978, he knew he’d be in it for the long haul.
“It’s a lifetime commitment,” Bryant said.
What started as five acres has grown into 200 acres of apples and 15 acres of peaches today.
“It takes so long to get an orchard established and in production, and then, you know, if you take care of the trees an orchard could last many, many years,” Bryant said.
Orchards rely heavily on the temperature to keep their crops on track.
We’ve seen a fairly mild winter so far, with Wednesday feeling more like spring than February — pushing Bryant’s crops about a week ahead of schedule.
This isn’t super unusual, but he says one warm day can speed the process up.
“Both apples and peaches have broke out of the dormant stage,” he said. “And once that happens, it doesn’t take much at all in terms of temperatures to advance things really quickly.”
With back and forth temperatures between hot and cold, another freeze could take out his whole crop.
“We can lose our whole crop in one night if the buds are staged at the right time and we get a really cold night, it can pretty much wipe everything out,” he said.
They have crop insurance just in case they lose a crop.
“If we do lose a crop for whatever reason, crop insurance kicks in and gives us a supplement,” Bryant said.
But even with insurance, it would still upset the market.
“A lot of people are depending on our fruit for the season, and it has a significant financial impact,” he said.
It’s still a little too early to tell what the season will bring, but Bryant is hoping to make it out with a full harvest.
