USDA: Michigan's peach forecast is looking good

By AP

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Agriculture officials say Michigan's peach crop is looking good for this year after frost took a big bite out of last year's harvest.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle says projections released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Michigan Field Office call for an estimated at 20,000 tons of peaches to be harvested this summer from Michigan's orchards.

That's up 43 percent from last year, when spring frost lowered the summertime peach harvest.

State agriculture officials say Michigan's peach producers are now primed for "a very strong production year" as most growers expect a full crop, except for some in eastern Michigan.

Michigan's peach harvest typically takes place in mid to late August.