Friday, April 6, 2012

CHERRY CROP DESTROYED BY FREEZE

March's warm weather was a real treat to many Western New Yorkers, but the return to more seasonal weather of late has proven to be disastrous to agri-business as WIVB News 4 Buffalo reports...

An early spring, and successive hard freezes have decimated western New York's so-called "stone fruits."

Becker Farms owner Oscar Vizcarra said, "The commercial crop, as we know it, is already basically gone in this particular area."

Becker Farms in Gasport has already lost about two-thirds of its cherry buds, making this the worst season in all of Vizcarra's 35 years of growing.

"I've never seen anything like that. We are, like, three to four weeks ahead of schedule. It's very uncharted territory," he said.

Watch the TV news report here:

Overnight freezing destroys cherry crop: wivb.com