Wait almost over for Jersey peaches

EASTAMPTON, N.J. (WPVI) -- Peach lovers are eagerly awaiting the harvest of Jersey peaches this summer, but they'll have to wait just a bit longer.

"We love Jersey peaches. I think they are juicy, I think they're sweet. My husband loves them; he loves them on cereal," Elaine Longshaw of Shamong, New Jersey said.

Farmers say this winter's bitter and prolonged cold has delayed New Jersey's peach crop by about a week to 10 days.

"This was a very cold, hard winter on a lot of things. The coolness in the spring delayed a lot of blooms so that's where we were running behind with the pollination process," farmer Joann Russo said.

At Russo's Fruit and Vegetable Farm in Tabernacle, a fourth generation family farm, they've just begun picking the very first peaches the season.

"We know that today they look beautiful on the tree and we hope and pray that continues through the season," Russo said.

A harsh winter can kill peach trees.

At the nearby Conte Farm, they lost three quarters of the crop.

"If the tree isn't strong enough to go through the winter it will die, you could have either the branches die or the complete tree will die," farmer Larry Conte said.

With stakes of over $30-million a year, peaches are an important crop to the Garden State.

New Jersey is number four in the country for peach production. Farmers grow more than 60 million pounds a season and over 100 different varieties of the juicy fruit.

"I love the Jersey peach and Jersey tomatoes. I'll wait whatever it takes, it's worth," John Longshaw of Southampton, NJ said.