hill country observerThe independent newspaper of eastern New York, southwestern Vermont and the Berkshires

 

News & Issues September 2022

 

A dry summer leaves some farms parched

Growers struggle with drought conditions across much of region

 

Michelle Bates of Wellsmere Farm holds a small ear of corn that by late August should have reached full size. She says very dry conditions this summer have left her corn and some other crops struggling. Joan K. Lentini photo

 

Michelle Bates of Wellsmere Farm holds a small ear of corn that by late August should have reached full size. She says very dry conditions this summer have left her corn and some other crops struggling. Joan K. Lentini photo

 

By DON LEHMAN
Contributing writer

WELLS, Vt.


Michelle Bates, the co-owner of Wellsmere Farm, doesn’t mince words when she talks about the impact this year’s drought has had on her vegetable crops.


“We lost all of our pickling and slicing cucumbers, and three-quarters of our corn,” she said in an interview in mid-August. “Our fall crops are ripening earlier than usual, and we’re not seeing the yields we would normally see.”


Irrigation can only help so much, and hit-and-miss showers and thunderstorms have not been enough to supply Wellsmere’s vegetable crops with the water they need.


“We haven’t gotten any steady rain since April,” Bates said. “I know eight to 10 people here in town whose wells have run dry.”


The U.S. Geological Survey Drought Monitor’s Aug. 18 update placed all of southern Vermont and most of eastern New York in either “moderate drought” or “abnormally dry” categories, with Rensselaer, Columbia and Bennington counties worse off. Much of western Massachusetts, including Berkshire County, fell within the “severe drought” category.


The National Weather Service in Albany reported rain deficits of between 14 percent and 22 percent at reporting stations around the region as of mid-August. That equated to a deficit of 5.59 inches of rainfall for the year to date in Albany.


The lack of rain has led to more work and consternation for farmers who need water for their crops and to grow hay to feed livestock in northern New York, southern Vermont and western Massachusetts.


Those who were fortunate to be in the path of sporadic showers or who had access to water sources for irrigation were persevering.


“We are fortunate to have a good well for irrigation,” said Jim Schultz, the owner of Red Shirt Farm, a vegetable grower in Lanesborough, Mass. “We’d be in trouble without it. It has been bone dry.”


But many farmers who have turned to irrigation to get needed water to their plants face higher costs as a result. Often they need to use machinery, typically run by diesel fuel or gasoline, to pump water and deliver it.


Steve Ammerman, manager of public affairs for the New York Farm Bureau, said how well farmers have done this summer depends on their precise location. But as of mid-August, it had been months since the region had recorded the kind of daylong rain events that are a necessity to keep crops on track.


“We haven’t had any of the steady days of rain we need,” Ammerman said.
It has been particularly frustrating for some farmers to watch as what showers have developed wind up skirting their land.


“A friend of mine a mile away got an inch of rain the other night, and we didn’t even get a drop,” said Mel McWhorter, owner of McWhorter’s Orchard in Argyle, N.Y.


Kim Trombly, the New York Farm Bureau’s field adviser for eastern New York, said she has been hearing from many farmers who are worried about the impact of the dry weather.


“It’s been a dry and challenging season,” Trombly said.
Vegetable and fruit growers aren’t the only ones feeling the pain.
The lack of rain also is resulting in a lighter hay crop. That will affect dairy farmers who need hay to feed their cows.


Steve Hadcock, the Columbia County-based educator for the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Capital Region Agriculture and Horticulture Program, said some farmers may lose out on a third hay cutting this summer, which could hurt feed supplies for the winter. The first and second cuttings were decent for most, but the dry weather has started to affect growth in the late summer, he said.


The hot, sunny weather was a boon for crops that thrive in those conditions, such as tomatoes and peppers, but sweet corn and feed corn yields have been variable depending on water.
“Corn growth is really all over the place,” Hadcock said.


Berry crops were lighter than usual in many parts of the region, with some reporting smaller blueberry and raspberry yields as well as smaller berries, depending on location and precipitation.


Looking toward New York’s fall apple crop, Ammerman said some growers are reporting stunted crops, while others were doing OK. But the dry weather has also helped apple producers to some degree, as it doesn’t allow diseases that thrive on moisture to take hold.


McWhorter said his apples are doing fairly well, though he knows other growers aren’t as fortunate.


“I’m not in quite a panic yet, but we could definitely use a drink,” he said.
So what is causing this drought?


Kevin Lipton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany, which forecasts for upstate New York and southern Vermont, said the dry pattern has stemmed from the position of the jet stream this summer, which has funneled storms away from the Northeast. It is unclear if climate change has been responsible, Lipton added. Moisture has been limited and storms haven’t developed as usual.


The La Nina Pacific Ocean temperature phase, which affects the development of storms in North America, has been present, but it was also present last summer, which was a fairly wet season for upstate New York, Lipton said.


“Last summer was wet and this summer is dry,” he added. “It balances out to be about average.”