By Catherine Hurley/VTDigger
Vermont’s apple growers are expecting a bountiful harvest this year, following a season affected by a late-spring frost in some parts of the state last year.
“Reports of an excellent apple season are true overall,” said Terence Bradshaw, a University of Vermont professor and fruit specialist. “Most are reporting above average yields.”
One night in May 2023, temperatures in Vermont plunged into the 20s. Apples, blueberries and grapes were already in bloom, and the unusually cold frost decimated crops in the region. The freeze affected 80% to 85% of orchards in Vermont, half of which experienced significant damage and lower yields, according to Bradshaw.
But this year, things are different.
Apples are produced on branch wood that’s 2 years old or older, meaning this year’s crop started developing in 2022. That two-year cycle allows trees to save up and direct their resources into growing buds for the next year, meaning orchards with a low crop yield last year had the potential for a bigger crop this year, Bradshaw said.
Peck Farm Orchard in East Montpelier lost 60% of its crop in the 2023 freeze, according to co-owner Daniel Bair. This year, he’s expecting one of the largest crops he’s ever had.
“Last year was very challenging … but that’s ag. That’s farming,” he said. “Anyone who doesn’t experience anything like that, I guess, is very lucky.”
Bair said the freeze made last year’s fruit look “really ugly,” but this year, the “fruit’s looking great.”
Vermont growers produce about 1 million bushels of apples each year, according to the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Organization. That’s around 40 million pounds. Availability for most apple varieties begins between August and October, and visitors at Vermont’s pick-your-own orchards pick about 200,000 bushels each year.
The U.S. Apple Association, a national trade group, predicts another high-performing year for apples nationally, after record-breaking production last year. According to the organization’s analysis of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture data, nearly 282 million bushels will be produced in the U.S. during the 2024-25 crop year, a 2% decrease compared with last year.
Devin Hackett, orchard manager at Hackett’s Orchard in South Hero, is also expecting a great harvest this year. The farm is located on the Lake Champlain islands, which provides “kind of a micro climate,” Hackett said, that avoids big weather swings because of the lake. The orchard’s crop looks to be on par with last year’s, which was not affected by the freeze.
“If an orchard could see Lake Champlain last year, the buffering effect of the lake allows for some protection from frost,” Bradshaw said. “They were in an enviable position last year.”
Jessika Yates, owner and operator of Yates Family Orchard in Hinesburg, experienced the same.
“There were a handful of us in the Champlain Valley that were spared,” she said of last year’s freeze. The orchard offered pick-your-own apples as usual that fall, and this year, Yates is optimistic.
“When you have a good crop, people are really excited to come out to farms and have an orchard experience,” she said. “It’s looking like a beautiful season. Apples are plentiful and abundant.”
Bradshaw said Vermont’s orchards have been less affected by flooding, even though perennial crops like apples, which grow in the ground for many years, do not do well in saturated soil.
“For the growers that have the bumper to bumper crops this year, it won’t be like this next year,” Bradshaw said, but barring extreme conditions, there should still be a good crop.
This year, Peck Farm Orchard’s crop came in earlier than usual, while Hackett’s Orchard pushed its apple picking back by a week because the farm’s blooms started a week later than normal in May.
“We thought the apples needed a little bit more time to develop flavor and color,” Hackett said, adding that cooler temperatures at night this week have been a positive for the apples.
He’s also looking forward to the start of the season.
“Generations of families come here to pick, and we enjoy seeing them year after year,” Hackett said. His message to them: “Enjoy the fall weather, and come out and pick your favorite type of apple.”
