News

Short supply on East Coast boosts apple price here

By BILL MOSS and AMY B. MCCRAW, Published: September 2, 2026

Given the early freezes, late frosts, windstorms, hurricanes and floods that have battered Henderson County’s apple crop over the years, it’s a rare season when growers are pleased with the harvest.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s probably the best situation we’ve had in a number of years,” Terry Kelley, the director of the county Agriculture Extension Service, said of this year’s apple harvest. “We’ve got a pretty decent crop. We had some early frosts and freezes that caused a few varieties to be a little bit short. But overall, I think the yields are going to be pretty decent.”

Kenny Barnwell, who’s been growing apples in Edneyville for 40 years, was even more effusive in his praise.

“I’m getting the best price I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I did sell some galas for 30 cents a pound. That’s unheard of in this area.”

It is, given that in big-yield years the price can be as low as a nickel a pound.

As usual, growers saw threats, starting in the spring: a March freeze, a three-week drought when apples were forming, followed by extended hot weather, then too much rain.

“Quality’s a little off just because of the heat and the rainy weather, so that’s hurt our color a little bit,” Kelley said.

But it’s all about supply-and-demand, and this year, with supply short, demand is way up.

“There’s prices we’ve just not seen in years and years, and people that want to buy apples that haven’t been here looking for apples in several years,” Kelley said. “That’s a good combination for the processing industry. Basically, Pennsylvania, New York, maybe even parts of Michigan got hurt by freezes in the spring. Generally, when we have a really good year price-wise, it means somebody else is having a bad year, and that’s kind of the way this works out.”

Surviving the spring freeze

The March freeze, which came after a stretch of warm winter weather that coaxed trees to bud, was not as devastating as spring freezes the county has seen in the past. But it did hurt the young buds.

“Early blooming doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be harvested early, but if they bloom early, they get hit just a little harder because they’re the first ones that come out, and then of course we have a cold snap after they come out,” Kelley said. “It damages those blooms and causes us to have lower yields in those varieties.”

Mike Stepp, of Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard in Edneyville, said freezing weather hit his early blooming varieties.

“We have a lighter crop,” he said.

But Stepp said he expects to get a good price for the apples he sells at the family farm, a large ag-tourism destination that offers rows of U-pick trees, wagon rides, an apple cannon and bakery.

“We try to grow a premium apple and get a premium price for it,” Stepp said.

Stepp was among the many growers who attended a campaign forum on agriculture at Blue Community College last Thursday. Farmers the Lightning interviewed agreed that the price processors are paying for apples is the best in years.

“I’d love to know we had that price for the next four years,” Barnwell said.

Other growers who attended the forum — including Greg Nix of Apple Wedge Packers and Linda Pryor of Hilltop Farm WNC —  also said they expect to have a good year.

“We are feeling very optimistic,” Pryor said.

‘It’s just been a funky year’

Jerred Nix, who sells apples commercially with his dad, Jeff, agreed said the price looks good now, although he expects it to tail off some after Labor Day, the peak harvest time.

“Like the early stuff — the frost and freeze has hurt a little bit,” he said. “A lot of it depends on where you’re at. Some of this early stuff has picked off a little light but overall, most of it looks pretty decent.”

Nix’s gala and Golden Delicious harvest were on the light side.

“You go to some people’s orchards, they’ve got a full crop of galas, and you go to the next one, and it’s sitting on 40%. It’s real sporadic — it’s just been a funky year.”

Better to have a funky anomaly across the ridges than no apples at all, or a poor market.

“Some growers have got lighter crops than other growers, and so it’s certainly not perfect, and everybody’s not going to get the same benefit,” said Kelley, the extension director. “But overall, it’s the best situation we’ve had in a long time.”

In 2022, a year after Tropical Storm Fred caused flooding and damaged some orchards, “we had a bumper drop, but the price was in the tank, so that didn’t work out for us real well,” Kelley recalled. “I’m glad our growers can get something good going their way. It’s been so many years in a row that we’ve either had freezes or hurricanes or floods of some sort, it’s just good to have a pretty decent year for a change.”