Granby, Conn. – Clark Farms, a family‑run orchard in Granby, reported a reduced apple and peach crop for 2026 after an unexpected late‑spring frost and a pair of bears that devoured most of the season’s peaches.
Frost hits budding fruit
“In May, it got down to the 20s, and it came out at a bad time,” said Allen Clark, owner of the farm. “It zaps a lot of those young buds, and once we lose those buds, you have to wait until next year to get that same crop.” The sudden dip in temperature struck as apple blossoms were forming, damaging the buds that would become fruit.
Despite the setback, some apple varieties fared better. “My Honeycrisp apple seems to be loaded, so that’s probably the only one that I had the majority of that there, and maybe some Golden Delicious because they were kind of spared,” Allen added.
Bears target the peaches
The peach trees suffered a different kind of loss. “We got whacked with the bears. The last three years, we haven’t picked a peach on this farm. There’s a mom and two cubs that just patrol this area, and they take every single peach that we have,” Allen explained. He noted that the bears have left the apple trees alone, which has prevented a total collapse of the orchard’s business.
Adjusting farm practices
Because of the smaller yield, the Clarks will forgo their usual summer pruning and shift to a fall schedule. “This year with the smaller crop, we’re not able to do that, so we’re going to do a fall pruning that’s going to be where we’re going to start that new,” said Zach Clark, second‑generation manager.
John Flanagan, an employee at the farm, described how pruning helps the trees store energy for the colder months: “The tree, like during the winter too, you know, it stores its energy in the roots, and the trunk itself can actually save some of the energy that those pruned branches would lose, and it can direct that towards producing better crop.”
Looking ahead
The family remains optimistic about the fall season and hopes for dry weekends that will encourage visitors. “You just got to hope that we don’t have any rainy weekends, which happened to us a couple years ago. It rained every single weekend except for one,” Allen said.
Even with the reduced harvest, the Clarks expect enough apples to sustain the farm through the remainder of the year.
Original reporting: NBC Connecticut — read the source article.
