Bummer crop.

• Position: Western

How important are apples to Henderson County? A red-skinned beauty is prominently featured on its logo. Even more noteworthy is the $28 million the crop generated for Henderson farmers in 2011. So a late freeze that ruined between 70% and 80% of the harvest this year--worst since 1955--was particularly damaging. "There are many orchards that have no apples at all. I have several that are that way," says Adam Pryor, president of Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association. His family owns Hilltop Farms in Hendersonville. "Countywide, it's not unrealistic to think of about a $10 million loss."

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A spike in prices due to an East Coast apple shortage will lessen the loss. Marvin Owings, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension in Henderson, predicts juice and processing apples will jump about 100% per pound from last year, and fresh produce will go for $20-$40 a bushel, up from $18-$29 "Some of the prices we're hearing are some of the highest we've ever seen," he says. "We just don't know the fallout until the end of the season."

But the state will produce fewer apples...