Peach trees in Ontario's Niagara region under threat due to recent historic flooding

Marc Apollonio · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 26, 2026 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Recent torrential rains in Ontario's Niagara region that flooded thousands of homes and overwhelmed sewage systems had another significant impact: Threatening the region’s peach industry. 

Peach and other tender fruit trees, including ones bearing nectarines and cherries, don’t tolerate excess water and can die when their roots are waterlogged for too long.

• 'Rare' weather phenomenon hit Niagara with multiple storms at once, leading to flooding: meteorologist

That means the multiple storms that flooded the region between July 21 and Aug. 2 are likely to take their toll on peach trees. 

“That's a given,” said Jay Subramanian, a professor of tree fruit breeding and biotechnology at the University of Guelph.

He said it could take weeks or months for affected trees to die, so it'll be some time before the full loss is known. 

“It could be anywhere between, you know, 20 per cent … even upwards of 40 per cent.”

Peaches, wine may cost more

An organizer of the Winona Peach Festival, which is this Friday to Sunday in the east Hamilton community of Winona, told CBC Hamilton its peaches haven't been affected. Vendors come mostly from the immediate area, including Winona and Beamsville in Niagara. The festival will have its usual amount of pies and peach sundaes, said Terry Gudgeon.

Subramanian said several peach trees on his Vineland research farm in the Niagara region already show signs of being impacted and are dying.

If the damage is heavy, he said, consumers will feel it next summer.  “That will obviously drive prices up."

The same may hold true for wine costs.

Most of Ontario’s grapes are grown in the region, and like peaches and nectarines, grape vines also cope poorly with water.

Jamie Slingerland, director of viticulture at Pillitteri Estates Winery, said two hectares of grapevines were flooded.

WATCH | The toll of Niagara floods on region's vineyards:

“All this humid weather, every disease that you can imagine starts to grow. You start to have downy mildew, powder mildew, black rot, botrytis … and the list goes on and on.” 

Slingerland said the flooded vines could cost the winery $250,000 in lost revenue. 

Other impacts of changing climate

Flooding isn’t the only climate-change related threat to Niagara’s fruit. 

Subramanian said the warming climate comes with a variety of challenges. 

As an example, he pointed to the Harrow Diamond — an iconic Ontario, cold-weather peach bred in Harrow in Essex County.

“This variety used to ripen around July 28, 29 in Vineland,” he said. “Now I'm harvesting the same variety between July 12 to 15. So that's a two-week to 2.5-week advancement, within 25 years.”

Subramanian explained this earlier ripening means the peaches don’t have as much time to develop, which can lead to smaller, less flavourful peaches. Warmer weather also presents new pressures from pests.

Subramanian is working on breeding varieties of peaches that are resistant to such changes.

He said Canada needs to treat this issue with more urgency. 

The country is an outlier because few places produce that much fruit in the cold. 

While growers in warmer locales — like southern Europe, Australia or the U.S. — can try out new varieties from any number of other warm-weather countries, Canada is forced to be more reliant on varieties developed at home. 

“Comparatively, we are really in a tough spot. We have to breed varieties for our needs,” he said, adding that such efforts have plummeted in recent years.  

• ‘You’re at the mercy of insurance companies,’ says St. Catharines, Ont., homeowner impacted by floods

Subramanian said he’s among only about five people in Canada who are working to breed climate change-resistant fruit. 

He said government support has dropped in recent years, and the industry has stepped up to help fill gaps in funding, but there needs to be more to continue to do meaningful research.

Without it, Subramanian said, homegrown, quality fruit will be harder to find.

In an email statement to CBC, the ministry of agriculture, food and agribusiness said in 2023, the provincial government "invested over $343 million to support research and innovation across Ontario's agri-food sector, including research that helps address real-world challenges facing tender fruit growers."

The government has also invested $41 million "in research infrastructure to expand Ontario's capacity to deliver cutting-edge agricultural research and practical solutions for farmers," Miriam Leardi, senior communications advisor, wrote.

Ministry representatives have visited the flood-affected areas, the statement also said, and will "continue working with farmers across the region, including through supports available from AgriCorp," referring to the Ontario agency that offers crop insurance.