Warm spring weather will mean early crops in SC | Arts & Culture

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The warm winter and spring weather this year is bringing earlier harvests for crops in South Carolina.

At Dempsey Farms on St. Helena Island, the strawberries are already ripe about two weeks earlier than normal.

That's not great for the crop that likes the weather a bit cooler and a bit drier. And some wheat farmers have had to plow their crops under because they were maturing too quickly.

The state Department of Agriculture reports that all spring and early-summer crops are running ahead of normal. Peaches are expected to ripen long before they usually do around Memorial Day, and some farmers have already started planting summer corn.

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