WILLARD, Utah — Local farmers, already dealing with a difficult start to Utah’s growing season, are once again watching the forecast closely as another round of cold temperatures moves in.
For family-run orchards across the state, spring weather can make or break the season. One local farming family says they have already been working through a challenging stretch of weather this year, and the latest cold snap is adding more uncertainty.
They're asking Utahns to support local stands and farmers' markets as they try to weather a difficult year.
Jordan Riley, owner of Grammy’s Fruit and Produce in Willard, has been farming in Utah for years. He and his wife bought Grammy’s Fruit and Produce about three years ago, but Riley said they have been farming in the area for about 12 years.
He also comes from a long line of farmers in Utah County, where his family is seeing similar problems this season.
“Typically one or the other end of the state will see more problems,” Riley said. “It’s more unprecedented for all of us to have our crops froze."
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Riley said the damage has been widespread.
“The orchard that I’m standing in right now, I kept watching and watching,” he said. “I thought it was one spot that might come through, but really it didn’t.”
Riley said he has one small section with a limited yield, but overall, he described the loss as devastating.
“But in the scheme of it all, it’s a total loss," he said.
In a video shared with FOX 13 News, Riley showed a peach tree that had once been full of blossoms.
“Every one of those flowers would have been a peach,” he said. “And every one of those flowers froze.”
Last month, FOX 13 News visited Riley’s Orchard and U-Pick in Genola, where owner Chris Riley — Jordan Riley's brother — showed the impact of freezing temperatures on his trees.
“Out of the middle, it’s called the pistil,” Chris Riley explained at the time. “And when it freezes, that will go dark, and that’s sort of the first sign that it’s frozen.”
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Walking through the orchard, Chris Riley also showed damage to apple blossoms.
“These are apples, and you can see right there: it’s brown right there in the middle,” he said.
Now, both farming operations are hoping to offset some of the fruit loss by planting row crops, including tomatoes, corn, melons and other produce they can sell at local fruit stands and farmers' markets.
Jordan Riley said if those crops are also hit by freezing temperatures, it would be especially difficult.
“If some of those row crops get frozen, then that is really unprecedented, just exceptional,” he said.
Jordan Riley said his operation is late in planting, which may help protect some of his crops from the expected frost. He says his brother is now working to protect about 12,000 tomato plants already in the ground.
“He’s covering low tunnels over his tomatoes, as many acres as he can, before nighttime,” Jordan Riley said. “So just everything you can do to keep them around.”
In social media posts, Grammy’s Fruit and Produce is asking customers to continue supporting the business, even with a difficult fruit crop this year.
“Still love to have you come up,” Jordan Riley said in one post. “We would still love to have your support.”
Jordan Riley said Grammy’s Fruit and Produce still plans to open for the season and will do what it can to offer produce to customers.
“We will be purchasing fruit from another friend farmer that’s doing good growing practices in Idaho,” he said. “We’ll still be open for business. We’ll do everything we can on the row crop.”
For local farmers, Jordan Riley said support from customers can make a meaningful difference after a tough start to the season.
“Our peaches will probably be coming from Idaho this year,” he said. “Keep supporting us and we’ll keep farming in spite of all of it.”
