Shorter crop lifts prices for cling peaches

Buoyed by increased demand and a lighter crop, California cling peaches might as well be gold this year, with state canneries clamoring for fruit—and paying record prices for it. Dwindling state acreage already tightened supplies in recent years. This year, damage from the spring frost further reduced the crop, with growers on pace to deliver their second-lowest yield per acre in the past 30 years, said Rich Hudgins, president and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association.