Just what kind of growing season was it in Ohio? That depends on what type of grower one asks.

The only grievance corn, soybean and wheat growers had was with the cool April temperatures that kept most of them out of fields at crucial times. But in the end, the consensus across the state was that these crops performed well. According to the USDA, Ohio farmers can expect to match their 2013 record output of corn and soybeans. Its report on crop production sets the state’s corn yield at 177 bushels an acre, the same as in 2013. There were also 3.7 million acres of soybeans grown in Ohio this year.

"We have probably not had the best weather of the Corn Belt," said Matthew Roberts, an agricultural economist with Ohio State University extension. "But we’ve had really good weather."

It was not a good year for peaches, however. Ohio’s crop was decimated this growing season thanks to a 40-degree fluctuation in temperatures and a sustained, cool spring. Terry Gram, who owns Arrowhead Orchard in northeastern Ohio near Canton, usually grows eight different varieties of peaches. This year, he needed a shipment from a farm in Pennsylvania.

"The peaches and nectarines are pretty short this year because of the cold weather we had in January. It went from 40 degrees to 10 below in 24 hours, and peach trees can’t take that quick of a drop," Gram said. "It was so bad that we even lost some of the peach trees altogether.

"So besides losing the crop, we lost some of the trees, and it’s still going to take years to replant."

Jeff MacQueen of MacQueen Orchards, just west of Toledo, lost nearly 10 acres of his peach trees and harvested just 2 percent of his normal crop.

Fruit farmers around the state relied on growers in South Carolina and Georgia to replenish their peach supply.

"There might have been a few farms down south by the Ohio River that weren’t affected, but for the most part, this year was a disaster," said Bill Dodd, president of the Ohio Fruit Growers Marketing Assoc. "Peach farmers brought bud samples to an (organization) meeting in February, and every bud was dead."

According to the U.S. Apple Assoc., the country enjoyed its third-best ever apple crop with a total of 263.8 million bushels. The Midwest led the way with 33.6 million bushels, 2 percent smaller than last year but 36 percent greater than the five-year average.

The top Midwest state, Michigan, can expect 28.7 million bushels in 2014, 48 percent greater than the five-year average. The forecast for other top Midwest states includes Ohio (1.7 million), Wisconsin (919,000) and Indiana (525,000).

According to the Ohio Valley Fruit and Vegetable Growers Assoc., farm markets around Ohio were overflowing with tomatoes and peppers. The 2014 growing season was a great one if you were a grower of processing tomatoes.

These processors contracted 5,300 acres in Ohio, an increase of 200 acres from last year, according to the NASS, Great Lakes regional office. Processing tomato production is forecast at 164,300 tons, up 7 percent from 2013.

Ohio’s and Utah’s onion growers intend to harvest 1,700 acres of summer storage onions in 2014, up 4 percent from last year. Onion yield was forecast at 479 cwt. per acre, down 44 from last year’s final.