Climate change is bringing new challenges every year for our farmers. This year it was a devastating late frost; in fact, it was the worst that most growers in our area have seen in their lifetimes.

We had an unusually warm late March/early April, which pushed many of our fruit trees into bloom early. We then had several hard frosts, including one on April 23rd, 8 days after the unofficial “last frost date.” This frost decimated the flowers, buds, and baby fruit of our stone fruit in the region. Stone fruit includes anything with a pit, like peaches, plums, cherries, and nectarines.

What does this mean for Philly Foodworks:

The orchards we source stone fruit from have their own retail markets. They will also be buying in for their markets. We are all working together to deliver the highest-quality fruit to our customers. We are also writing letters of support for their applications for state funding to help with crop loss. We will also support them in any fundraising efforts to help mitigate the crop loss.

Not having any stonefruit this season would have been devastating. While it's far from ideal, we love stone fruit, and we wanted to make sure we had a reliable source of high-quality stone fruit for our customers and families. We also value farm-direct relationships and are proud to source directly from the farm.

What does this mean for local orchards:

As one farmer put it, “We are going to learn a lot this season and hopefully build a lot of strong relationships.” As climate change threatens local food systems everywhere, it will require increased collaboration between regions. While talking to a farmer from Pearson Farms, he mentioned that they had a severe frost several years ago and wished he had a relationship with farms up north to help offset some of his losses.

How this align with our mission of building a local food system

We recognize that not everything our customers buy will be local. This is why we decide to carry some non-local items during certain parts of the year. In our experience, carrying a small selection of non-local items helps our customers purchase from us more frequently, which in turn leads to more purchases from our local farmers. It also helps ensure the financial sustainability of Philly Foodworks, which allows us to continue growing and building the local food system.

When we buy non-local items, we do our best to source the highest quality produce direct from regional farms. By building these relationships, we are also creating a larger community of regional farmers who can support each other during times of need.

Thank you for supporting our local food system and being part of the broader regional movement to create resilience for the challenges yet to come.

-Dylan