Which Peaches are Better: Georgia or South Carolina?

Posted by Christina Herrick|July 14, 2018

Which state in the Southeast has the best peaches? Is it Georgia or South Carolina? Depending upon who you ask, the answer may vary. And that’s exactly what happened when the South Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Agriculture squared off in “Peach-Off” on Twitter to promote their fruit.

South Carolina, according to The Columbia State, harvested 10,400 tons of peaches last year, which is more than Georgia’s 9,600 tons.

So, as peach season is rolling on, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture tweeted: “We know Georgia gets all the credit, but SC actually harvests three times more peaches than GA.”

The Georgia Department of Agriculture responded with: “blessed to be the Peach State THEN and NOW,” including a crown emoji in the tweet. And then followed up with another tweet noting that while South Carolina may harvest three times as many peaches “We say ours are 3 X SWEETER.”

South Carolina responded with: “Bless your heart, @GeorgiaGrown”

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Stacey Holtzhauser says:

July 18, 2018 at 11:58 am

Why not New Jersey Peaches?

tegf says:

May 6, 2020 at 9:44 am

that would be a valid response exept that this “peach off” is between the southeastern states so new jersey is not important.

David Goforth says:

July 19, 2018 at 7:35 am

I have sold my North Carolina peaches at a farmers market and had customers say they were raised in Georgia peach country and never had peaches as good as mine. Also had customers say the same thing about being raised in South Carolina peach country and never having peaches as good as mine. On the up side I was charging a 17% premium. The down side to having good tasting peaches was that I could never buy and resell (which was legal on that market) without hurting my image and losing customers.

Robert Hill says:

May 29, 2020 at 4:20 pm

SC the best peaches anywhere and I am from MA and lived in GA 9 years. When my wife asked a SC farm stand one day in July over 20 years ago, “I remember when I was a Kid, I would bite into a peach and the sweet juice would drip down my chin. If I ever find that peach again I will forever say, you have the best peaches”. After getting a sample, she has said for years, no one has better peaches than SC!

Ron says:

June 26, 2020 at 8:47 pm

South Carolina peaches are best. No disrespect to the great State of Georgia. I live in Michigan now and look for South Carolina peaches every year but rarely find them. Peaches are always labeled US, but I know they’re not Carolina peaches by the flavor. Please send South Carolina and Georgia peaches up here. California doesn’t cut it. God Bless you all.

kaththee says:

July 14, 2020 at 7:02 pm

As Stacey Holtzhauser suggest NJ peaches are some of the very best. My husband is from Colts Neck and I couldn’t find a bad peach there and I am good at finding bad peaches. No one finds or buys or tosses more terrible peaches than I. We have lived in Ga for 20 years and the only good peaches I get are when someone brings them back from South Carolina or if I order them from SC. I don’t know what is wrong with Georgia peaches but I give them a D-.

Ted Heavy says:

November 17, 2021 at 12:16 pm

They responded with “bless your heart”. And I think we all know what that means. I will say this- it depends. It comes down to rain and volume of fruit on the trees. Sometimes Ga has a better growing year and sometimes it’s our SC peaches that rule. Not sure why Ga. uses the peach thing when they actually are the Pecan growing champs. I have 9it on good authority Michigan grows a hellofa ear of corn.