Turns out that this is common in Japan for tea fields. They mount big fans on poles all accross the field for it (you provably have to zoom in to see them)

Some varieties of apples blooms are frost sensitive. Others can shrug off a frost and not really care. It's a genetic difference in the cultivars.

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/biol-2025-1107/html

So if you see a big ass fan in the orchard, it's because the grower wanted to push a variety that is not well adapted to the local environment.

Fascinating

In one of the Laura Ingalls books they run around pouring water on top of their crop early in the morning when it turns out it's frozen. It seems to be an old method.

It's actually not. We have entire regions covered with vines. We can't wrap the whole France in plastic, it's just not possible. But we can predict where it's going to freeze and when, so we take such measures on very specific zones with precise timings. So this only happens a few times a year, at precise locations and not for long

That’s exactly why this is done. It’s an emergency operation if there is a sudden freeze that would kill the vines.