Extreme Weather Events in 2022 Took Toll on Fruit and Nut Crops

By Thomas Skernivitz|July 10, 2023

Like Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw’s characters comparing battle scars in “Jaws,” respondents to American Fruit Grower’s 2023 State of the Industry survey pitch their best (or worst?) weather recaps of 2022.

Here are some of those tales and notes from a growing season that, weather-wise, nearly half of all growers thought was worse than usual:

California citrus grower: “The east winds are substantial.”
California grape grower: “We had zero residual soil moisture for most of the year due to little rain in the November 2021 to April 2022 traditional rainy season.”
California nut grower: “The first week of September 112°F. Burned up walnuts, blackened the kernels.”
California stone fruit grower: “Frost damaged flowers on early pluots, so no fruit developed.”
California stone fruit grower: “It seems springs are colder. We installed wind machines where I never thought we’d need them.”
Florida citrus grower: “The 300-year flood from Hurricane Ian.”
Florida colleague: “Ian removed what little fruit we had left.”
Maryland berry grower: “Late frost and freezes a problem in this area for tree fruit.”
Massachusetts apple grower: “During king bloom for apples, it rained and was too breezy for bees to pollinate, resulting in less than half a crop on varieties that blossom with the ‘McIntosh’.”

2023 State of the Fruit and Nut Industry pie chart on extreme weather in 2022

*Info based on results from 2023 State of the Fruit and Nut Industry survey

Massachusetts berry grower: “Drought killed tree seedlings and strawberries.”
Michigan berry grower: “We lost three high tunnels after two 50 mph-plus events.”
Michigan nut grower: “Weather patterns seem to stall out for longer periods of time. So when we get rain, we may get too much of it in a short period of time. Or when it’s a dry spell, it’s too long and necessitates irrigation in some form.”
Michigan stone fruit grower: “Frost damage in spring on cherries.”
Montana pome fruit grower: “The wind caused early drop of ‘McIntosh’ apples.”
Oregon stone fruit grower: “A severe hailstorm destroyed 67% of our apple crop in 2022. People in the same town did not get hail at all; it was localized to our orchards.”
Oregon stone fruit grower: “Mid-April snow destroyed 90% of our peach crop.”
Washington berry grower: “An unusually wet, windy, cool spring kept our bees from doing their thing, and fruit set was down 30% to 40%.
Washington pome fruit grower: “Snow and freezing temperatures during cherry and pear bloom impacted pollination; freezing weather and cold/windy pollination season led to poor fruit set in several varieties of apples.”
Washington pome fruit grower: “Spring and early summer was very wet and cold, adversely affecting fruit set and size while middle summer through October were unseasonably hot, affecting fruit size, sunburn, and rapidly advancing apple maturity.”
New York berry grower: “We had a severe hailstorm that decimated some crops.”
New York grape grower: “Winter low temps killed primary buds in table grape varieties.”
New York pome grower: “We had a beautiful growing season in Western New York. May I see another like it in my life.”