Things are not peachy between SC and Georgia in Twitter fruit fight

Fireworks weren't just in the sky during the Fourth of July holiday. They were also visible on Twitter.

The tweet storm — between the South Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Agriculture program Georgia Grown — was about fruit. Specifically the merits of each state's peaches.

Both South Carolina and Georgia take their peaches very seriously. It's because it is a serious business.

In 2017, South Carolina produced 10,400 tons of peaches which were valued at 17,724,000, according to usda.com. That was more than the Peach State produced: Georgia had 9,600 tons valued at 17,454,000.

Although Georgia gets acclaim for its peach history, the peach has been the Palmetto State's official fruit since 1984. South Carolina has been producing peaches since the 1860s, statesymbolsusa.org reported.

It was either pride or pursuit of affirmation that possibly prompted the S.C. Department of Agriculture to do some bragging on Twitter.

"We know Georgia gets all the credit but SC actually harvests three times more peaches than GA."

That did not sit well on the opposite side of the Savannah River. It prompted a response from Georgia Grown.

Although Georgia didn't dispute the South Carolina claims, it bragged on its own peaches. First, it tweeted that it is "blessed to be the Peach State THEN and NOW," adding a crown emoji.

It soon followed with another barbed message. In it, not only did Georgia Grown say its favorite fruit was "3 X SWEETER," it used a secret weapon to make its point: Cute kids.

The great-grandsons of the founder of century-old Jaemor Farms were pictured in the response. As if that wasn't enough of an advertising dirty trick, one of the youngsters appeared in a video really selling how sweet the peaches are by happily taking a bite from one.

South Carolina had a simple but strong response.

"Bless your heart, @GeorgiaGrown"

Several people commented on that. One called it "The most brutal southern insult," while another pointed out that "Bless your heart is right up there with anything that comes after "oh honey" as top insults in the South."

In truth, both states are hoping that this is a big year for their peach crops. Unusual weather wreaked havoc with their crops in 2017, as an overly warm winter and a hard freeze in early spring wiped out more than 85 percent of South Carolina's peach harvest, and 80 percent of the Georgia crop, according to ajc.com.

Maybe some playful banter will get people to find their nearest peach stand.

This story was originally published July 5, 2018 at 7:45 PM.