New England

Wet Weather Creates Mess for Crops in Northeast
Associated Press, August 25, 2000

Guillermo Molina winces at the sight of row upon row of brown, withered plants drooping with soft, misshapen tomatoes. “At least when we had a drought last year I could pump water from the pond and keep the crops wet,” the head grower for Marino's Lookout Farm said Friday. “This year, it's just been a mess.” The unseasonably cold and wet summer weather across the Northeast has left farmers like Molina with fields of near useless crops. In other fields, though, where the fruits and vegetables thrive on extra moisture, farmers are celebrating one of the best years they can remember. “Most farmers I know are calling this the summer of waiting,” said Diane Baedeker Petit, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. “We were waiting for things to develop, waiting for the weather to change, waiting for the sun to help things ripen, and waiting to see what the crops would look like,” she said. Since June, more than 12 inches of rain has fallen in Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service. During the same period last year, less than six inches of rain fell.

Jim Wilson is one of the lucky ones. His beets, radishes and carrots have never looked better, he said. “Some things excel in the heat and some things excel in the cool weather,” said Wilson, owner of Wilson Farm in Lexington. “It all depends on what you grow.” Wild blueberries have grown so rapidly and so well in Maine this year, growers say the region's annual crop will likely reach a record 85 million pounds, well over the annual average for the past five years of 65 million pounds. The rain has also left the peaches and apples of Connecticut large and especially tasty, according to the state's Department of Agriculture. But in Molina's case, dark clouds on the horizon are the worst possible sign. His string beans grew small, and then blackened and withered before they were ripe. His romaine and red leaf lettuce grew stems and seeds through the core before they were ready to be picked. And his tomatoes either didn't grow, or grew so packed with water that they squished and were rotten within days. “We thought we could use some to make our sauce, but even that doesn't work,” he said. “When we tried, we just had to cook it and cook it to get rid of the excess water.” The Natick farm grows a variety of fruits and vegetables, but usually relies on its tomato crop for about 50 percent of its annual business. “We'll be lucky to sell one-third of that this year,” Molina said. “We're not even going to come close to our projections. This is going to be a bad year.”

Jerry Frecon, an agricultural agent in southern New Jersey, says growers of squash and peppers have had trouble with soil fungus, which flourishes in damp conditions. In Connecticut, farmers replanted the cucumbers three times at Sugar Hill Farm in Colebrook, but the vegetables still wouldn't grow. Vinny Confreda had trouble even getting that far - many of his Cranston, R.I., fields have been so flooded the fourth-generation farmer couldn't plant his corn. For him, it's been two bad years of extremes. Last year's drought left Confreda's farm looking like a dust bowl. His corn stalks grew to just 18 inches instead of six feet, and his pepper plants wilted before having a chance to ripen. “I keep chugging at it,” he said. “I'm hoping my kids will take over to be the fifth generation, but I'm not sure what's going to happen.” Molina isn't expecting things to turn around this year. He's already replanted his tomatoes and lettuce once this summer. “I keep on planting and hoping,” he said, squishing a deep red plum tomato in his hand. “But this year, it's hard.”