There is not a peach in sight this year in the orchards of Stuart Gregg, a farmer in Georgia, where 90 percent of the peach crop has been decimated by an abnormally mild winter, followed by a cold snap – an extremely rare event for the US southern state that is so closely associated with the fruit that it is nicknamed the “Peach State.” “It was a complete loss,” says the 29-year-old farmer. Experts warn this could occur more often as a result of climate change. Not far from the farm, Dario Chavez, a professor specializing in peaches, is developing new hybrid varieties more suited to a warmer weather.
