SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s mid-April cold snap has had dire consequences for local farmers: the operations manager of Manning Orchards, in Fruit Heights, said his fruit trees won’t yield a single fruit this year.
“I can’t find a single good peach out there. And that’s our main thing is peaches. We do some cherries, those are frozen. We do some apricots, those are frozen. We do some apples, those are frozen. We do some pears, those are frozen,” Chris Healey said. “So it’s across the board, everything’s frozen for us this year.”
Healey said he had a knot in his stomach on Thursday night as he knew just a few degrees would make the difference between an early yield and total crop failure. He said that anything colder than 26 degrees, even for just half an hour, could have a serious impact on fruit…