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Frost Wipes Out Crops

With temperatures in the 70s you would think the cold and frost is not on the minds of area farmers, but some fruit crops saw a lot of damage from a warm March ...

With temperatures in the 70s you would think the cold and frost is not on the minds of area farmers, but some fruit crops saw a lot of damage from a warm March and frosty April.

April Ochs is a fifth generation farmer. She said her family's  apple crop  near Drums has been wiped out by the late season frost.

"It looks like it has a mark on it too, that's not good either. Your regular apples would be about the size of a dime right about now and there is none on here," Ochs said.

The frost attacked and wiped out the apricots and cherry crop too. The family has many other crops to sell and some of those are thriving.

"We were able to cover the strawberries this year, so we're going to be able to have our own strawberries this year. The blueberries are looking good, raspberries look good. It's just the fruit trees that got hit here," Ochs added.

Near Wapwallopen, at Hellers Orchards, Greg Heller said 70 percent of his apple crop succumbed to the frost.

"Some of the stuff that was developed and froze fell off, the seeds were aborted, then there is fruit that have a few seeds in it will be small fruit and there is some good fruit," Heller said.

He added the damage is widespread. "Michigan is not in good shape, New York has a lot of damage. This thing is big. I suspect in the east here there is shortages of fruit," Heller said.

Some farmers predict that with less fruit on the trees could translate into higher prices at the market for the rest of us.

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