AREA PEACH CROP `PEACHES 'N' CREAM'; GROWERS FORECAST BOUNTIFUL HARVEST AS PICKING BEGINS

Area peach growers finally have something to brag about a good peach crop.

"We have some fine peaches this year," Shirley Beggs of Pioneer Orchard in Cape Girardeau said Saturday. "And it's a good crop."

David Diebold of Diebold Orchard, Interstate 55 and Benton Exit, agreed.

"We started picking in late June," said Diebold, "Right now we're in the middle of some great peaches."

The story's the same in Southern Illinois.

"We had an early spring with warm temperatures," said a spokesman from Hartline Orchard near Alto Pass, Ill. "We have better than an 80 percent crop this year, and that's about 77 percent better than a year ago."

Fruit growers in Illinois and Missouri have been plagued with two years of bad weather.

A year ago many Missouri growers didn't have enough fruit to market.

"Growers, especially those in Southern Missouri, have been hurt two straight years by cold winters," said Jim Anderson, horticulture marketing specialist for the Missouri Department of Agriculture. "This year, however, the fortunes area changing. We're seeing peaches of excellent size, good color, and great quality."

About 75 percent of the state's peaches are raised in Southern Missouri. "Missouri growers statewide should have a good crop this year," said Anderson.

Illinois growers also had a disastrous season in 1990.

Only 300,000 pounds of peaches were harvested in Illinois, compared to more than 12 million pounds in 1989.

"We didn't have any peaches last year," said Shirley Beggs. "It wasn't much better in 1989, when we had probably a 5 to 10 percent crop."

Shirley Beggs and her husband, Bill Beggs, have operated Pioneer Orchard a number of years. "Our son, Bill, has joined in the operation. He is the fourth generation in the operation of the orchard 606 Silver Springs Road," she said.

She credits a mild winter for the exceptionally good crops this year.

"We made it through the winter with little or no damage," she said. "We had a light frost around Easter, but, the trees were loaded with buds, and the absence of a late frost was a big boost to all growers."

The Beggs started harvesting the red haven variety of peaches Saturday.

"We've been watching the orchards the past week," she said. "Saturday, they were ready."

The red haven is a cling-free, yellowish peach, with a reddish skin.

"It's great for eating, canning, and baking," said Beggs. "It's a good, all-purpose peach.

The red haven will be followed by the sun haven, which will be ready within the next week to 10 days.

"We'll have peaches the next five or six weeks," she said. "The loring and the Alberta varieties will follow the sun haven.

Pioneer will feature "pick your own" peaches in the near future.

The orchard, which also features plums, and will have nectarines within a week to 10 days, sells many of its peaches locally, and also has its own fruit stand at the orchard.

The majority of Diebold peaches is sold at Diebold Market.

"We wholesale a few peaches, but most go out of our market here," said Diebold, who says he has already picked as many peaches this year as in 1990, and still has about six weeks to go.

"The crop is early this year," he said. "We'll probably see the end of fresh peaches somewhere around Aug. 20, unless something happens.

Diebold says the peach crop can be affected by extremely hot weather, or unseasonable cool weather.

"Right now we're looking at a 75 to 80 percent crop," he said. "And, that's a good crop. The past two years we've had five to 10 percent crops.

Besides the red haven, Diebold is picking a few rareton rose, and the yellow clinging triogem varieties.

"The rareton rose is a white peach," he said. "We don't have a lot of these varieties."