After Frost Crop Loss, NY’s Apple Farmers Say Agriculture is a Growing ‘Gamble’

Brett Budde looks out into a vast field of apple trees in Mountaindale, New York. His farm, Majestic Farm, grows all sorts of apple varieties: Crimson Crisps, Pristines, and his favorite, the Ashmead’s Kernel.

“The intensity is like an apple jolly rancher. [The Ashmead’s Kernel] has high acid notes and then it’s also sweet as well,” said Budde. “They’re kind of ugly, too… I think they’re so gorgeous, but they’re not traditionally beautiful.”

He says oftentimes, customers call him weeks in advance before the apples are ripe with promises to take them all. But this year, Budde isn’t too confident that he’ll have any apples for sale at his farm.

During the early morning hours last Tuesday, April 21, the Hudson Valley and greater Northeast region were hit with an overnight frost, with temperatures dropping as low as 19 degrees in some areas of the state.

The frost came after several days of warm weather kicked apple tree buds into bloom. Some farmers say the frost could mean a near-total loss for their fruit crops.

From late evening on Monday into the early morning of Tuesday, Budde implemented frost mitigation efforts by renting an agricultural drone to blow warm air on the trees to raise the temperatures. Other farmers in low-lying frost pockets hired helicopters or lit tiki torch fires and smudge pots in the alleyways to prevent frost damage.

While he still hasn’t assessed all his flower buds, Budde says he’s confident that it’s a 100 percent loss for his farm. “I just don’t have it in my heart to really go look.”

Majestic Farm grows all sorts of apple varieties: crimson crisps, pristines, and golden russets (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)

Farmers navigate increasingly erratic weather conditions

Apples are New York’s most valuable fruit crop. New York is the second-largest apple producing state in the country, averaging 29.5 million bushels of production annually, according to the USDA.

Jared Buono, director of Cornell University’s Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, says Hudson Valley apples can be especially vulnerable to weather changes.

“We’re further south. Our trees wake up earlier, which means there was more exposed sensitive tissue… Those flower parts, of course, are essential for making fruit this year,” said Buono.

But Buono warns it’s still too early to tell the full extent of crop damage in the Hudson Valley. Dan Donahue, a tree fruit specialist at the Cornell Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, said they won’t know for several more weeks how many flowers survived.

“The extent of any losses will vary by fruit species, variety, elevation, topography, and if freeze mitigation measures were deployed such as orchard wind machines, helicopters, and orchard heaters. With so many variables in play, early loss assessments are rarely accurate. Further complicating the situation is our current run of cool weather with days in the 50’s and 60’s,” said Donahue.

Daniel Heavens, co-owner of Quartz Rock Vineyard in Marlboro, says last week’s frost has left his farm with significant losses.

“We’re gonna have zero plums [or] cherries this year.. the apples, it doesn’t look good right now,” said Heavens, who owns the farm winery and cidery with his partner Jacqui Ferrari Heavens. “You might be driving around and see apple trees in bloom, and hopefully they’re all still alive, but if you cut that open, you’ll start to see brown and black on the inside, and that’ll die slowly.”

Heavens says climate change and extreme weather changes has made farming increasingly unpredictable.

“The more I describe agriculture to people that aren’t necessarily familiar with [the] agricultural world, it’s really like gambling,” said Heavens. “Mother nature’s in charge.”

Budde agrees. His apple orchard operation accounts for about one-third of his income, and this year’s frost marks the third weather-related crop loss his farm has suffered in the seven years it’s operated. In 2023, his u-pick organic orchard was forced to close after a stretch of heavy rainfall followed by 80-degree temperatures destroyed his flowers.

“Climate change does not have to be this exotic, crazy event where your neighborhood is flooded. The damage to these apple buds is just dictated by a few degrees, and most climate change actually affects us that way,” said Budde.

Still, farmers are hopeful. Heavens at Quartz Rock Vineyard says the apples this season may be misshaped but they’ll still taste delicious.

“On the inside, the fruit’s gonna be fabulous,” said Heavens. “It’s just not gonna look like [how] you typically see it.”

Image: Brett Budde, owner of Majestic Farm, looks at his apple trees in Mountaindale, N.Y. (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)