|
|
The July 4th weekend brought the farmers their first break and sent them scurrying into their wet fields. "We were in real good shape this week," Mr. Kallstrom reported. "We put in two late nights and did really good."
In all, the Kallstroms brought in 900 bales this week, with one field yielding 100 bales more than normal. But the higher yield was not an unqualified blessing. "The fact that the hay is being done so late means there is more of it," he said, "but the quality is not there. Orchard grass starts to get overripe first, then the broom and then the timothy follows. It loses nutritional value and doesn't look as desirable. Looking at the hay, about a third of it is brown. Horses and other fussy animals use their lips to separate it out, and it looks like a tremendous amount of waste-which it is."
Mr. Kallstrom said that even if the quality of the hay is reduced, he must charge the same rate as prime hay. "You kind of have to charge as much because your expenses are the same. Last year, fuel prices were challenging, but if it doesn't go over $3 a gallon this year, it should be OK."
Indeed, sometimes it costs even more to produce lower quality hay. "If you mow a field and have it ready to bale-or if it is even semi-dried-and it is rained on, it is basically ruined. You have to go back and ted it again, sometimes two or three times. It actually costs more money just to make junk for mulch or construction hay."
Mr. Kallstrom said farmers have a new ally in making hay, however. "The Internet makes it easier," he said. "Looking at Telecast allows us to follow the weather much better. If there is a 30 percent or less chance of rain, I go for it, but on a smaller scale. I can decide how much I can afford to lose."
Mr. Kallstrom mows about 100 acres for hay and creates both traditional square and round bales. While he is getting his first cutting far later than he would like, he is hopeful that the abundant rain will still produce a second cutting. "Right now we are hitting hard at the opportunity to get our first cutting off the lots so we can let the second cutting come in," he said. "I did a delivery to a first-cutting customer and I almost wanted her to come and look at it before delivery for fear she wouldn't take it. But everyone is in the same boat."
Mr. Kallstrom also raises sheep and, improbably, the rain has also affected this part of his farming operation. "I'm going out to shear today," he reported. "We haven't been able to shear because their fleeces have been wet every day and we couldn't bag them without them getting moldy. It rained last night, but we are going to go for it anyway."
Other farm products have been affected by the rain, but not as severely as hay. "Corn is a problem in low-lying areas," said Theresa Freund of East Canaan. "Where you have heavier soils, if puddles stood too long, that corn was basically lost. In drier fields, our corn tassled a week ago and it should be three weeks to picking. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Our corn is looking good because we have gravelly soil."
Farther up the road, however, Peter Jacquier was feeling grim, expecting a 20 to 30 percent loss of his corn crop. "Easily 20 percent of our field corn is drowned out and won't survive," he said. "We just have to see how much the other will suffer. There will definitely be a nutrient loss."
The standard for corn traditionally is "knee high by the fourth of July," but Mr. Jacquier said yields are all over the place. "My early corn goes from shoulder high to a few inches," he reported. "It depends on how the soil handles the water. Field conditions are very wet."
Even though he chops his hay and can bring it in without drying, his second cutting is two weeks behind because of the wet fields. "It's not a fun year," he concluded, "and in these economic times, we need everything to go right."
Even growers not concerned with hay and corn are experiencing difficulties. Mrs. Freund says tomatoes are particularly challenged. "You have rain day after day after day and the leaves are always wet. Constant moisture is not advantageous to tomatoes," she said. "Their leaves are crappy, yellow, blah! And we are seeing funguses we don't normally see until August. The funguses form on the bottom of the leaves. In the early part of the disease you will just see a little spot on the top of the leaf, but if you flip it over you will see a gray, fuzzy spot. That's the spores that float in the air and affect other plants. You can spray a product that seals the spores if it's a few plants, but if it's the whole place, what's the chance of getting everything covered-not a chance."
Mrs. Freund said the public's liking for heirloom tomatoes-often touted as having superior flavor-does not blend well with the weather conditions. "Breeding has been done to improve the plant's protection against various blights," she said. "The hybrids are doing better than the heirlooms. Heirlooms are wonderful and when you have a perfect growing season, heirlooms will be fine-but not this year."
An inherently cheerful person, Mrs. Freund laughed and said, "I always have to look at the bright side. When we water our plants, we fertilize. But you've got to be smarter than the weather, so I just put [solid] fertilizer on my outside plants [and let the rain wash it in]."
In Kent, organic farmer Meghan Haney said her crops are doing well except for a section of low-lying ground where she lost the crops she planted. But, she added, the fields have been so wet she has not been able to get on them with her tractor. "The weeds are laughing in my face," she said.
The wet ground has also prevented successional planting.
Still she is philosophical, saying a farmer always has to expect losses. Her crops are doing well, with the exception of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, but are suffering from a lack of sunshine. She harvested 40 pounds of tomatoes last weekend for her CSA members from plants that normally would have yielded 80 pounds. Tomatoes, even the greenhouse tomatoes, are ripening slowly, she said.
"My spring was much better than last year, though," she said. "In early spring we had no rain and my spring plantings did really well. But my middle planting has been lost to the weeds."
