Josh Yonce at J.W. Yonce & Sons Inc. in Johnston, SC, predicted his farms will produce more than their usual 1 million boxes of peaches this season. “We survived a spring freeze with less than 10 percent damage to the crop,” he said in an April 24 phone interview. “In fact, we were still pruning the orchards when the freeze hit. Now all we have to worry about are wind damage and hail. We’re on track and on schedule for a good year.”

Over the past 70 years, Yonce & Sons has grown from a small peach orchard to a thriving commercial operation on 3,800 acres growing more than 30 varieties of peaches. “We’re scattered over a lot of ground, but a family member is involved in every step of production, from seed to shipping,” Yonce said. “A family member personally inspects each shipment before it leaves the packinghouse,” he added. Yonce and his first cousin, Chris, are co-vice presidents of operations and fourth-generation peach growers.

“Our retail customers have come to rely on our dedication to consistent quality and customer service. Some, like IGA and A&J Produce, have been customers of ours for more than 25 years,” Yonce said. “IGA started taking two pallets from us, and now they buy two truckloads,” he added. Yonce & Sons has a state-of-the-art packing facility with the latest technology to ensure precise sizing, weight and grading. All Big Smile peaches are hydro-cooled before packing to ensure a long shelf life.

In 2009, Yonce & Sons began processing frozen sliced peaches, a first on the East Coast. Among the first of many customers for Sweet Carolina Frozen Peaches was R J Rockers Brewing Co. in Spartanburg, SC, which used its Carolina peaches to make its “Son of a Peach” beer.

Yonce & Sons is located in Edgefield County, in a colorful area known as The Ridge, widely known for its location in the heart of South Carolina peach production. The Ridge gets its name from the range of sloping hills that dominate the area. Growers in The Ridge began peach production as an alternative crop for an additional source of income after the boll weevil took a bite out of the cotton industry in the early 1900s, Yonce observed.

Buds that were selected last summer were grafted onto trees as replacement varieties this winter.

“Once you plant a new variety, you have three years before you see what kind of fruit the tree produces,” Yonce explained. “If you like it, you have to wait three more years to get more, and if you don’t like it, you have lost three years of time and money already invested,” Yonce added. Yonce & Sons peaches carry the name, “Big Smile,” Yonce recalled, “because we were called Carolina Ridge Orchards back then, and we were in what seemed like constant turmoil, one problem after another. One day, someone said ‘Why isn’t anyone smiling?’ And my father, Sonny Yonce, co-president with his brother Larry Yonce, said, ‘Let’s just put a big damn smile on the boxes and call them ‘Big Smile’ peaches.’ ”