Pennsylvania, New Jersey farmers struggle with heat
At Greenfield Farms in Southampton, a scorching sun beat down on a field of brown cornstalks. At nearby Burlington County farms, soybean crops were beyond reclamation.
At Greenfield Farms in Southampton, a scorching sun beat down on a field of brown cornstalks. At nearby Burlington County farms, soybean crops were beyond reclamation.
The same was true across much of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where farmers face a tough choice: Watch the crops die, or spend time and money to irrigate them - and hope it's not too late.
With triple-digit temperatures this week and little or no rain, many growers expect to lose some of their snap beans, peppers, corn, and soybeans.
Others say that raspberries and blueberries are shriveling up, and that tomato and pumpkin plants could be unproductive because bees won't help pollinate them in temperatures above 95 degrees.
"We need rain. It's critical right now," said Roger Kumpel, owner of Greenfield Farms and president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture. "Pretty much all of us are affected."
In Pennsylvania, David Fleming, an owner of Shady Brook Farm in Yardley, said "blossoms on the tomatoes drop off because the plants are in a stress mode."
Raspberries and blueberries "melt on the vine when it gets this hot," he said. "Things are browning out. We have been watering 24 hours a day for the last 21/2 weeks."
Heat and lack of precipitation force farmers to spend more money on gasoline to run the motors that pump water into the fields.
"The weather determines the amount of workload," said Joel Roney, manager of Traugers Farm Market in Kintnersville, Bucks County, along the Delaware River. "When it's dry, we spend more time on irrigation.
"We run gas-powered pumps to move the water from the river," he said. "We used 250 gallons [of fuel] last week, and that adds to our expenses."
Some farmers must decide which crops to let die, Roney said.
"A farmer won't irrigate a field crop" of hay or corn for animals, he said. "But he will take care of his peaches because they'll return more."
The sprinklers run from 6 a.m. to about 8 p.m. at Johnson's Corner Farm in Medford.
"We'll take any kind of rain at this point," said Eric Johnson, one of the farm's owners. "This is extreme. We have sprinklers that crawl across the fields real slowly."
So far, "we've been able to keep up and grow high-quality produce," he said. "We have sweet corn, peaches, cantaloupes, and blueberries.
"We're also growing pumpkins for the fall. It's a lot of work to keep them going" in the excessive heat.
Last month was the hottest June on record, said Lynne Richmond, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
"The warmer-than-normal temperatures brought in crops," including sweet corn, tomatoes, and peaches, "earlier than usual," she said.
Warmth and an occasional soaking rain are good. Extreme heat and drought conditions are not.
The corn on hills curls up first, then turns blue, then brown, said Kumpel, of Greenfield Farms. Soybeans turn yellow. And second cuttings of hay become increasingly unlikely.
"We're praying," Kumpel said. "We're doing everything. We would take a substantial amount of rain now and everybody would jump for joy."
In Pennsylvania, one of the driest areas is the Susquehanna Valley, taking in Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, and Columbia Counties. It's under a drought emergency.
"The forecast is not favorable," said Bill Troxell, executive secretary of the state Vegetable Growers Association, a nonprofit education and advocacy group that represents hundreds of farmers. "We need an inch or two of steady rain, not a quick downpour."
"It's gotten critical for the corn," he added. "If we get rain, we can pull out, but there will probably be depressed yields."
The dry heat means some corn never makes it to market, Troxell said.
"An ear of sweet corn will be half filled out," he said. "The bottom will have kernels, but the top will be shriveled up. Not everyone has irrigation for sweet corn."
The future of many crops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey depends on a dramatic change in weather.
"Things were getting bad last week, but as soon as 100-degree temperatures hit this week, we've gone downhill, flying," Kumpel said. "Things are not good. We're desperate."