MOORE COUNTY, N.C. — Ken Chappell’s family has been growing peaches since the 1930s. He’s optimistic about the potential of his crop for this year.

“The blooms are really progressing,” he says.

The mild winter weather is causing the peach trees to bloom later than usual, and that’s a good thing.

While it means the peach crop will be harvested later, it also should push beyond the time when any of the flowering trees will be threatened by a killing frost.

Chappell says that farmers have to remain vigilant though because all it takes to wipe out the crop is one really cold morning.

“It’s a war and you fight your battles one thing at a time,” Chappell adds.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture says that peach farmers grow more than 3.6 million pounds of peaches every year.

California and South Carolina are the largest peach growing states.