we re either using canned peaches or we re having to do fresh frozen. reporter: georgia s fresh peaches are expensive and scarce. lawton pearson, a fifth generation peach farmer, showed us why. you ve got peaches here and that variety has nothing. reporter: not one? not a single peach. that s the way 95% of the farm looks. reporter: his 1,500-acre peach crop is a lemon. all my buddies. they all died and i have to deal with it. reporter: pearson s losing an annual challenge. it s something called chill hours. his georgia peaches, always a diva fruit, generally need 850 hours under 45 degrees fahrenheit to blossom. this year s crop, with climate change, had about 700 chill hours. starting in 2016, it s like we fell off a cliff. the average is about the minimum we need to have a good crop. reporter: no margin for error? that s right. we got to come up to the average every year, and we can t adapt
without new varieties. reporter: dario chavez is trying to breed a better peach. each one of these is a pit from the fruit that we harvest from across. reporter: at the university of georgia, his peach team is matchmaking slivers from the pits of different varieties. their goal? a peach more resilient to georgia s changing climate. here, we re looking at high chill variety of peaches. reporter: but all good breeding takes time, and georgia is running out. it actually takes decades. reporter: the short answer is you re working on it? we re working on it. reporter: continuing to grow peaches is potentially at risk? it is potentially at risk. reporter: in his groves of unfruited trees those were killed. they didn t have the decency to fall off. reporter: lawton pearson worries about his family s future in peach farming. you really start to question whether this is a viable enterprise. reporter: a challenge both economic and existential. georgia, the no peac
the averages is about the many we need to have a crop. reporter: no margin for error? that s right, we have to come to the average every year and we can t. reporter: dario chavez is trying to breed a better peach. each one of these is actually a pit from the fruit we harvest from across that we make. reporter: at the university of georgia come his peach team is a matchmaking slivers from the pits of different varieties. their goal, a peach more resilient to georgia s changing climate. here we are looking at a high chill variety of peaches. reporter: but all good breeding takes time, and george is running out. it actually takes decades. reporter: you are working on it. we are working on it. continuing to grow ages is potentially a risk. it is a risk. reporter: in his fruits of the micros of unpolluted cheek know my trees. they did not have the decency to fall off. reporter: lawton pearson
reporter: in the peach state, naturally, you eat peach cobbler. but at atlanta s silver skillet restaurant. everything okay? we are using either canned peaches, or we are having to do fresh frozen. reporter: george s fresh peaches are expensive and sc scarce. lawton pearson, a fifth generation peach farmer, showed us why. you got peaches here, and that variety has nothing. not one? not a single peach. that is the way 95% of the farm looks. reporter: is 1500-acre peach crop is a lemon. all my buddies, i got to deal with it. reporter: pearson is losing an annual challenge. it is something called chill hours. his georgia peaches, always a diva fruit, generally need 850 hours under 45 degrees fahrenheit to blossom. this year s crop, with climate change, had about 700 chill hours. reporter: starting in 2016 cometh like we fell off a cliff.