Recent torrential rains in Ontario's Niagara region that flooded thousands of homes and overwhelmed sewage systems had another meaningful 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

In a related development, 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,” stated Jay Subramanian, a professor of tree fruit breeding and biotechnology at the University of Guelph.

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

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

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, remarked Terry Gudgeon.

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

Additionally, if the damage is heavy, he mentioned, 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.

It is worth noting that jamie Slingerland, director of viticulture at Pillitteri Estates Winery, declared two hectares of grapevines were flooded.

How grape growers from Niagara-on-the-Lake are dealing with back-to-back rainstorms

“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.”

In the broader context, slingerland expressed the flooded vines could cost the winery $250,000 in lost revenue.

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

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

Notably, 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 declared. “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.

Significantly, subramanian is working on breeding varieties of peaches that are resistant to such changes.

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

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

Meanwhile, 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 mentioned, 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

On a related note, subramanian expressed he’s among only about five people in Canada who are working to breed climate change-resistant fruit.

He stated the government body 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 stated, homegrown, quality fruit will be harder to find.

In a related development, in an email statement to CBC, the ministry of agriculture, food and agribusiness noted in 2023, the provincial authorities "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 administration 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 noted, and will "continue working with farmers across the region, including through supports available from AgriCorp," referring to the Ontario agency that offers crop insurance.