Central Pennsylvania farmers feel the effects of April freeze ahead of Father’s Day

LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Cherries, strawberries, peaches — normally all easy to find at local farms this time of the year — but some orchards are still feeling the impact of a freeze that killed many of those fruits.

What’s normally a busy season is a quiet one for the Honey Bear Orchard after an April freeze took all their fruit crops for this year.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | ‘It just froze them’: Honey Bear Orchards loses $200K, fruit crops in April freeze

“We usually start Father’s Day with sweet cherries … and that day, it has just grown into a big day for us,” owner Nelson Heagy said. “Sometimes, the cars are lined up the whole way in the lane, 3 to 400 cars come in that day. Tomorrow it’s going to be quiet.”

The night of April 20, temperatures in Lebanon County dropped below 24 degrees — a devastating blow to farms whose fruit trees were unable to survive the cold temperatures.

In less than 24 hours, Honey Bear Orchards lost dozens of acres of fruit, including cherries, apricots, apples and peaches.

At the time, the orchard estimated it lost around $200,000, but Heagy says that’s not the worst part.

“It’s more the emotional, because financially, yes, we’re geared up for that and it’s meeting the people.”

After Gov. Josh Shapiro called on the USDA to help out Pennsylvania counties impacted by this freeze, the agency announced several counties were eligible for disaster assistance in the form of emergency loans.

READ MORE | Six PA counties included in disaster designation for farmers affected by April freeze

Adams, Chester, Franklin, Fulton, Lancaster and York counties are included.

Absent from that list is Lebanon County, where Honey Bear Orchards is located.

We reached out to the USDA to ask why Lebanon County wasn’t included, but we haven’t heard back yet.

However, Heagy says it’s likely because there’s only two orchards in the county.

“A lot of people reached out and said, ‘What can we do?’” he said. “And it’s simply come back next year.”

They’re not the only farm that has to make do this season — Forge Hill Orchards in York County lost half of its crop in the April freeze.

Despite that, retail manager Abby Naylor says they’re lucky because they still have a little bit of everything.

“I think the best thing that people can do is just to buy local and help support the farmers that really lost a lot of their stuff.”