{"id":251888,"date":"2026-07-25T14:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/251888\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T14:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:52:18","slug":"new-pa-grant-program-helps-fruit-growers-recover-from-spring-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/251888\/","title":{"rendered":"New Pa. grant program helps fruit growers recover from spring freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 25, 2026 | 5:30 AM \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe 2026-27 state budget created the Freeze Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant program. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHaley O’Brien\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Haley<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHaley O’Brien is WITF’s Community Impact Reporter. She enjoys exploring Pennsylvania’s diverse communities and inspiring audiences through multimedia storytelling. Haley grew up in Scranton and worked in public media in Northeast Pa. and the Lehigh Valley before moving to the state capitol.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Strites'<\/p>\n

\u00a0Haley O’Brien \/ WITF<\/p>\n

Strites’ Orchard has less fruit than usual this year due to a spring freeze.<\/p>\n

A new Pennsylvania grant program will help fruit growers recover after an April freeze devastated crops this year. At Strites\u2019 Orchard near Harrisburg, co-owner Matt Strite said the late spring freeze caused the worst crop losses he\u2019s seen. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost probably half our cherry crop, 90 percent of our apricots and plums, 80 percent of our peaches, probably 75,\u00a080%\u00a0of our apples all froze,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you come in our market, you might not find peaches one day, you might find them the next, and it\u2019s just because there\u2019s not a lot of fruit coming into the market.\u201c\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania is a top producer of peaches,\u00a0berries\u00a0and other fruits that are typically in season in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Shapiro administration created the Freeze Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant program as part of this year\u2019s state budget, which Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law this month.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0$10 million is\u00a0available to\u00a0help\u00a0farmers\u00a0offset financial losses caused by the freeze.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strite, who is also a member of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture fruit board,\u00a0said growers still face many of the same production costs\u00a0even when their harvests are severely reduced.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0still a lot of money going into the orchards when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0not getting any money back out of them,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of where some growers are looking for assistance to help get to that next season.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some Pa. Farmers received\u00a0assistance\u00a0from the US Department of Agriculture<\/a>\u00a0in May. The Shapiro\u00a0administration is\u00a0calling\u00a0for more support for growers through weather-related losses, including a statewide disaster declaration and more insurance options.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis funding is an important step toward helping Pennsylvania\u2019s fruit growers recover from one of the most damaging spring freezes in recent memory,\u201d\u00a0Pennsylvania\u00a0Department of Agriculture\u00a0Secretary\u00a0Russell\u00a0Redding said\u00a0in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0helping growers rebuild while continuing to advocate for\u00a0additional\u00a0support where\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WITF<\/p>\n

Help make trusted journalism available to everyone. Support WITF today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July 25, 2026 | 5:30 AM The 2026-27 state budget created the Freeze Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-251888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}